m 


m 


No...*?...*?.... 


To i 

/ 

*+*> 


<  <oni[)liments  of 


Copyrighted  1907,  by  James  A.  Wilson 
San  Francisco,  Cal. 


HOW  I  DID  EUROPE 


AND 


HOW     IT     DID    ME 


BY 

JAMES    A.    WILSON 


San  Francisco,  California 
1907. 


HOW   I    DID   EUROPE 

AND 

HOW   IT    DID    ME. 


SEATTLE,  July   1,  1907, 
Friend   Dick : 

We  are  now  in  Seattle,  and  about  to  start  on  our 
trip  across  the  Continent  by  the  Canadian  Pacific  to  New 
jfork  and  then  to  Naples,  and  from  there  I  might  say, 
I  don't  know  where  we're  going,  but  we're  on  our  way, 

I  promised  I  would  let  you  and  the  bunch  know  how  it 
happened,  so  you  will  hear  from  me  in  a  disjointed  wayy 
once  in  a  while. 

I  am  not  saying  anything  about  the  trip  in  the  train 
from  San  Francisco  to  Portland  and  Seattle,  as  you  and 
the  boys  know  all  about  it.  Just  tell  them  when  lunch 
time  comes  to  have  one  with  me. 

In  the  meantime,  believe  me  very  truly  yours  for  what- 
ever there  is  in  it. 

JIM. 

THROUGH  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAINS. 

Tuesday,  July  2,  1907.  Left  Seattle  at  12:15  through 
a  five  minutes'  tunnel,  and  in  a  few  minutes  found 
tnere  was  no  diner  on  th*>  train.  The  conductor  and 
porter  telegraphed  some  place  for  lunch,  and  at  4  p.  m. 

827892 


6  HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

it  came  aboard  done  up  in  a  box.  It  was  good  and  we 
were  hungry.  The  diner  was  put  on  in  the  evening 
and  we  fared  all  right. 

At  Sumas  we  got  our  own  drawing-room  and  settled 
down  for  a  long  ride.  On  Wednesday  we  started  through 
the  Rockies  and  all  that  day  were  passing  through  the 
most  picturesque  country  I  have  ever  ridden  through  on 
a  train. 

Great  Divide. 

At  Field  the  largest  glacier  in  the  world  lies  in  full 
view;  it.  is  a  sight  well  worth  seeing  and  long  to  be 
rejntfiin^erejd.  Just  before  reaching  Field  we  passed 
tnrougli  the.  Gorge  at  Kicking-Horse  Pass.  Close  by  is 
whjai  is  -Isjipwn  as  the  "Great  Divide,"  where  a  small 
"  stream"  separates — one  becoming  the  Columbia  river  and 
the  other  finally  flowing  into  Hudson  Bay.  This  place  is 
known  as  the  backbone  of  the  continent.  The  Rocky 
Mountains  and  the  Selkirk  meet  at  this  point. 

I  forgot  to  remark  that  at  Sumas  is  the  line  dividing 
the  United  States  and  Canada.  There  is  a  kind  of  double 
station;  on  the  American  side  it  is  called  Huntington  and 
on  the  Canadian  Sumas.  Two  lines  of  survey  can  be  seen 
running  over  the  mountains  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
apart,  where  it  would  seem  a  dispute  had  arisen  at  some 
time  over  the  line.  I  walked  into  Canada,  looked  at  the 
Custom  House  and  then  came  back  to  America  and  went 
to  the  U.  S.  Saloon  and  had  a  farewell  glass  of  beer  for 
pure  patriotism ;  still  the  day  was  warm  and  perhaps  that 
helped  my  motive  some. 

Across  the  Continent  via  Canadian  Pacific. 

Thursday,  4th.  We  are  now  out  and  away  from  the 
Rockies  and  the  Selkirks  and  traveling  through  a  most 
uninteresting  country  and,  were  it  not  for  what  the  guide 
book  says  about  it,  it  might  just  as  well  not  have  been 
made,  except  the  narrow  strip  for  the  railway. 

Medicine  Hat. 

We  stopped  at  a  place  called  Medicine  Hat,  822  miles 
from  Vancouver,  and  it  is  well  named  for  everyone  under 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  7 

the  Hat  looked  as  if  it  had  taken  or  required  medicine; 
3500  population ;  chief  industry,  loafing. 

Swift  Current. 

Swift  Current  is  another  alleged  town  at  which  we 
stopped.  It  is  built  on  a  pretty  stream  bearing  that 
name,  but  the  stream  was  nowhere  in  evidence,  and  the 
only  thing  that  dignifies  it  is  that  the  Canadian  Govern- 
ment maintains  a  meteorological  station  there,  to  tell  the 
population  how  the  wind  blows. 

Moose  Jaw. 

Moose  Jaw,  population  7000,  junction  and  division 
line  where  the  Soo  line  runs  direct  to  St.  Paul.  Moose 
are  said  to  abound  in  the  country  around.  I  was  moosing. 
around  here  and  Nellie  came  pretty  near  loosing  me. 

Winnepeg. 

Arrived  at  Winnepeg  about  4  hours  late.  This  is  the 
Capital  of  the  Province  of  Manitoba ;  has  a  population  of 
100,000.  The  Royal  Alexandra  Hotel,  owned  by  the 
Canadian  Pacific  R.  R.,  cost  $1,250,000.  The  town  is  well 
built  of  brick  and  stone,  has  good  looking  street  cars ;  two 
rivers  meet  here,  the  Red  and  the  Assiniboine.  Both  are 
open  to  steamboat  service.  This  town  has  been  for  years 
the  chief  port  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  The  country 
abounds  with  beautiful  lakes,  large  and  small. 

Port  Arthur. 

We  came  to  Port  Arthur,  with  a  population  of  8,000. 
It  is  on  Thunder  Bay,  an  arm  of  Lake  Superior,  owns 
its  own  street  railways,  electric  light,  water  and  telephone 
service. 

Ottawa. 

Ottawa,  70,000  population;  Capital  of  Canada,  on 
the  junction  of  Rideau  and  Ottawa  rivers.  Splendid 


8  HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

government  buildings  are  erected  of  stone,  and  they  call 
it  the  Washington  of  the  North. 

MONTREAL. 

Sunday,  7th,  Montreal:  Arrived  about  11:30  a.  m., 
went  to  the  Windsor,  the  best  hotel  in  town,  from  what 
we  could  learn.  It  is  a  fine  city  and  has  a  population  of 
about  450,000.  It  is  built  on  the  St.  Lawrence  River  and 
connects  with  the  great  lakes.  The  scenery  is  good; 
splendid  bridges  span  the  river  and  a  natural  park  or 
mountain,  known  as  Mount  Royal,  up  which  a  zig-zag 
drive  of  splendid  character  lands  you  at  the  top,  where 
a  circular  place  has  been  cleared  and  a  low  stone  wall 
built  around.  The  city  Jies  below  and  presents  a  fine  ap- 
pearance with  its  red  brick  buildings,  broken  here  and 
there  with  city  structures  of  stone.  I  think  this  is  the 
best  city  in  Canada ;  largely  strewn  with  Irish.  You  hear 
some  English,  much  Irish  brogue  and  more  French.  A 
statute  of  a  horse  on  its  hind  legs  and  a  soldier  restrain- 
ing him  by  the  bridle  stands  on  a  granite  base,  com- 
memorating the  loyalty  of  Canada  to  the  British,  and  the 
formation  at  this  point  of  a  regiment  of  horse  to  fight 
against  the  Boers  in  the  late  war  with  Africa. 

Montreal  is  a  dry  town  on  Sunday,  but  in  the  hotels 
thirst  destroying  prevails  in  every  language. 

Monday  morning  at  10 :15  we  left  for  New  York  and 
arrived  in  the  evening,  behind  time,  at  the  Great  Northern 
Station,  where  we  got  a  carriage  and  drove  to  the  Hoff- 
man House,  dead  tired  of  traveling  by  rail,  although  we 
had  ridden  all  the  way  from  San  Francisco  in  a  drawing- 
room  with  all  the  comforts  appertaining  thereto. 

NEW  YORK. 

Tuesday,  9th.  Devoted  the  fornoon  to  seeing  Judge 
Hitchcock  and  steamship  people,  Van  Schaick  Company 
and  others;  after  noon,  sight-seeing  in  the  automobiles, 
and  very  nearly  caused  a  strike  of  the  pasengers  by  de- 
manding that  the  old  thing  start  on  time;  indeed,  I  had 
gotten  out  and  a  number  of  ladies  were  about  to  follow. 
When  we  started  we  took  what  is  known  as  the  "up 
town"  drive,  Fifth  Ave.,  Central  Park,  the  River  Side, 
Cross  Town  and  back  to  the  Flat  Iron  Building,  whence 
we  started  having  had  pointed  out  the  residence  of  all  the 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  9 

millionaires,  who  have  city  houses,  the  buildings  of  note, 
municipal,  state  or  national. 

In  the  evening  we  went  to  the  Madison  Roof-  Garden, 
the  place  where  White  was  shot  by  Thaw,  a  poor  place 
even  to  shoot  a  dog,  and  a  poor  place  for  either  or  any  of 
them  to  be.  We  left  after  the  first  act.  The  show  had  a 
name,  we  had  no  program,  but  it  didn't  matter;  it  was 
vaudeville  and  poor  at  that. 

NIAGARA   FALLS. 

Wednesday,  10th.  Started  for  Niagara  Falls  on  the 
Empire  State  Limited,  the  most  noted  train  in  the  world, 
according  to  the  railroad  statement,  making  three 
stops  in  440  miles,  running  over  50  miles  an  hour,  includ- 
ing- stops.  Arrived  at  5:15  or  a  few  seconds  ahead  of 
time  at  Buffalo. 

Changed  cars,  and  at  6 :10  arrived  at  Niagara,  22  miles 
further,  by  another  train,  put  up  at  the  Prospect,  a 
finely-appointed  home-like  hotel,  had  a  fine  suite  of 
rooms  and  bath,  after  dinner  walked  through  Pros- 
pect Park  down  to  the  bridge  and  had  a  good  view  of 
the  Falls.  I  have  visited  them  before  in  winter  and  like 
them  perhaps  better  in  that  season. 

Thursday  llth.  When  we  arose  it  was  raining.  Wo 
had  a  victoria  carriage,  ordered  the  evening  before 
for  a  four  hours'  drive.  It  came  on  time  but  the 
rain  was  still  do^ng  business.  We  started,  how- 
ever, and  visited  the  different  view  points,  going  down 
the  incline-railroad  to  the  whirlpool,  visiting  the  Canadian 
side  (paying  toll  going  and  coming).  The  rain  getting 
worse,  we  told  the  driver  to  return  to  the  hotel  and  call 
for  us  at  train  time.  We  cut  out  our  visit  to  the  cave  of 
the  winds,  under  the  Falls,  on  account  of  the  weather. 
We  left  at  11 :45  a.  m.,  caught  our  Empire  State  train 
at  Buffalo  at  1  p.  m.,  landing  in  New  York  at  10  p.  m.,  got 
a  carriage  and  drove  to  the  Hoffman,  where  we  found  a 
large  amount  of  mail  waiting  for  us,  with  farewell  mes- 
sages from  our  friends  in  San  Francisco  and  other  places. 

Friday,  12th.  Devoted  the  principal  part  of  the  day 
shopping  and  getting  ready  to  sail,  but  in  the  early  even- 
ing ordered  a  carriage  and  drove  across  the  Brooklyn 
Bridge  then  back  by  Wall  street  and  Trinity  Church  and 


]0  HOW   I   DID    EUKOPE 

the  Latin  quarter.  We  finished  packing  for  an  early 
start  and  found  that  since  we  started  we  had  spent  about 
seventy  dollars  in  increased  bag-gage.  This  note  I  make 
for  my  wife 's  benefit,  as  she  reads  this  after  I  am  finished 
writing. 

ON  THE   ATLANTIC   OCEAN. 

Saturday  13th.  Said  goodbye  to  mine  host  of  the 
Hoffman  at  nine  o'clock  a.  m.,  and  with  a  wagon  for  our 
belongings  and  a  carriage  for  ourselves,  were  on  our  way 
to  the  boat,  the  "Prinzess  Irene."  Everything  found  its 
way  to  our  cabin  without  mishap,  and  at  11  sharp  pulled 
out  of  the  slip  with  the  German  band  (which  J  found  we 
carry  along)  playing  "Star  Spangled  Banner,"  and  thus 
began  our  trip  across  the  ocean  blue,  on  our  way  to 
Naples.  Everybody  seemed  busy,  putting  their  things  in 
shape  after  we  had  passed  the  points  of  interest  going 
out  of  the  harbor. 

Our  quarters  are  very  good  and  built  to  accommodate 
four,  but  is  occupied,  as  per  price,  paid  by  my  wife  and 
myself.  I  place  her  first,  as  she  occupies  all  the  cabin 
except  the  upper  berth. 

Sunday  14th.  The  morning  broke  fine  because  it 
was  the  14th  and  the  German  ship  company  didn't  want 
to  throw  any  salt  water  on  the  Frenchman's  day,  and  the 
German  band  at  lunch-time  even  so  far  forgot  itself  as  t» 
play  Red,  White  and  Blue.  We  who  were  French  among 
the  passengers  taking  it  as  a  compliment  to  our  country 
applauded,  and  the  English  and  Americans  thought  they 
might  be  included,  helped  us  out  in  the  applause,  and 
after  lunch  we  found  out  it  was  a  medley  in  which  most 
of  the  numbers  were  Dutch;  so  we  all  tacked  to  the  lee 
scuppers  and  felt  blue,  leaving  out  the  red  and  white. 

We  received  the  list  of  passengers  in  a  printed  book- 
let, and  they  must  have  discovered  the  Irish  in  me,  for  I 
find  I  am  down  as  "James  0 'Wilson."  The  people  are 
looking  each  other  over,  taking  in  their  fine  points  and 
others — principally  others.  The  officers  are  all  apparent- 
ly nice  and  from  my  observations  the  passengers,  with 
few  exceptions,  will  do. 

The  weather  has  been  fine  all  day,  therefore  church 
service  and  prayers  were  omitted. 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  11 

Monday  15th.  Weather  fine,  with  head  wind,  hoping 
for  a  little  excitement  of  that  character  so  that  a  dear 
lady  who  persistently  sits  with  a  red  umbrella  up  all  the 
time,  and  who  occupies  her  vocal  powers  and  the  chair 
next  to  mine,  explaining  to  her  lady  friend  in  the  adjoin- 
ing chair  how  much  she  enjoyed  herself  on  her  "lawst 
tewea,"  might  find  at  least  a  change  of  position  and  oc- 
cupation, so  that  her  stomach  might  silence  her  tongue 
and  give  me  a  chance  of  peace  with  honor. 

Tuesday  16th  Wind  blew  some  last  night  and  yes- 
terday late,  which  brought  some  relief  from  the  red  um- 
brella. 

A  new  bother  has  appeared.  At  our  table  are  seven, 
or  "we  are  seven";  a  Spanish  gentleman,  a  good-natured 
looking  German  and  a  lady  who  would  be  his  young  wife 
had  she  room  on  any  of  her  fingers  for  a  wedding  ring. 
Unfortunately  they  are  all  occupied  with  the  most  f autistic 
works  of  art.  They  would  look  well  as  shoe  buckles.  She 
would  not  be  bad  looking  were  it  not  for  a  ballet-dancer 
expression  on  her  lips.  The  other  couple  are  a  little  to 
much  for  me  yet.  I  am  guessing.  He  is  a  military  man, 
a  son  of  a  father  whose  only  boy  v/as  he,  or  a  drummer, 
I  cannot  tell  which,  as  all  three  characters  jump  on  the 
waiter. 

His  wife  is  a  would-be-good-natured  "woman,  and  is 
quite  home-like,  as  she  did  not  feel  the  necessity  of  look- 
ing dignified. 

I  imagine  they  think  I  am  some  fellow  from  out  West, 
soured  at  the  world,  using  vinegar  pickles  as  a  steady 
diet,  getting  off  in  the  corner  thrice  a  day  to  hate  myself. 

Wednesday,  17th.  "Nothin'  doin';"  same  faces, 
some  are  beginning  to  look  good  to  me  though.  After 
you  have  rubbed  up  against  them  a  little  and  the  veneer 
gets  worn  off,  you  find  some  good  fellows.  I  discovered 
college  professors,  sculptors,  doctors,  business  men  and 
myself,  most  of  them  inclined  to  cultivate  a  friendly  in- 
terchange of  ideas  on  almost  any  subject,  from  the  latest 
corruption  in  politics  to  "who  made  God. 


?  5 


Thursday,  18th.  Nothing  of  importance  happened,  ex- 
cept to  get  better  acquainted  with  those  already  known 
and  make  the  acquaintance  of  some  others.  Among  the 


12  HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

latter  may  be  numbered  Mr  .Meade,  a  sculptor  and  maker 
of  the  group  in  marble  of  Queen  Isabella  offering  her 
jewels  so  that  Columbus  may  be  enabled  to  proceed  with 
his  discoveries.  This  he  made  for  the  Capitol  of  Califor- 
nia at  Sacramento,  where  it  now  stands  in  the  rotunda. 
He  also  modeled  the  group  in  bronze  of  the  Stanford 
family  at  the  University.  He  is  quite  interesting  and  is 
married  to  an  Italian  wife  and  has  his  home  and  studio  in 
Florence. 

We  also  have  a  Princess  and  her  daughter — Italian  I 
believe.  The  girl  is  about  13-14  and  very  deep  dark  red 
hair,  a  romping  good-natured  English-spoken  girl,  who 
seems  to  forget  that  she  is  the  daughter  of  anyone  in  par- 
ticular. 

AZORES  ISLANDS. 

Friday  19th.  Great  day.  After  remaining  up  till 
after  midnight  on  account  of  the  perfect  beauty  of  the 
night,  got  up  at  the  usual  time,  went  through  all  the  usual 
business,  when  about  9  a.  m.  land  was  sighted.  The 
Azores,  or  as  they  are  known  by  sailors,  the  Western 
Islands.  They  were  instantly  the  attraction  and  every- 
glass  on  board  was  kept  busy  until  late  in  the  afternoon, 
when  we  left  them  behind. 

I  will  describe  them  now  while  I  have  the  data  and  it 
is  fresh  in  my  mind:  They  consist  of  a  group  of  nine, 
located  in  mid-Atlantic,  about  400  miles  in  extent,  run- 
ning W  .N.  W.  by  B.S.E.,  situated  between  lat.  36°  59'  and 
39°  44'  North  and  longitude  25°  10'  and  31°  7'  West  of 
Greenwich 

San  Miguel,  the  largest,  lies  E.  N.  E.  and  W.  S.  W. 
in  37°  59'  North  latitude  and  25°  12'  West  longitude  is 
about  700  miles  west  of  the  coast  of  Portugal  and  1147 
from  the  Lizard.  Flores,  the  most  western  of  the  islands, 
is  1680  miles  from  the  shores  of  Newfoundland.  They 
are  named:  San  Miguel,  Santa  Maria,  Terceira,  San 
Jorge,  Pico,  Fayal,  Graciosa,  Flores  and  Corvo. 

They  are  of  volcanic  origin,  and  were  inhabited 
long  before  the  American  Continent  was  discovered. 
The  population  are  Portuguese,  with  a  total  number  of 
possibly  500,000  as  in  the  census  taken  in  1878  they  had 
a  population  of  259,790.  On  one  of  the  islands  is  to  be 
found  a  race  so  entirely  different  that  some  writer  has 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  23 

claimed  they  were  originally  peopled  by  the  Phoenicians?. 
These  people  are  found  in  the  town  of  Koto,  and  retaiu 
their  own  style  of  dress  and  habits;  will  not  marry  with 
the  Portuguese  and  live  in  an  old  dilapidated  street  in 
what  is  known  as  the  old  town.  Just  when  the  islands 
were  first  peopled,  I  cannot  tell,  so  let  it  go  at  that,  but  I 
learn  that  in  1433  the  islands  were  given  by  King  Duarte 
to  his  brother  Prince  Henr}%  the  Navigator,  for  having  re- 
located them.  It  would  seem  from  this  that  someone  had 
carelessly  mislaid  them  and  didn't  know  where  they  were. 

In  1450  some  2000  colonists  were  sent  out;  some  from 
Flanders,  on  account  of  their  heads  being  wanted  at  home, 
and  some  Portuguese,  and  so  it  seems  they  kept  sending 
passage  money  for  their  other  friends,  till  in  1490  there 
were  several  thousands  of  Flanders;  but  the  Portuguese 
got  a  hunch  that  it  was  up  to  them  to  gel  some  more  voters, 
or  the  country  would  go  to  the  bow-wows,  and  so  they 
sent  in  enough  to  marry  all  available  Flander  women  and 
proceeded  to  raise  the  Portuguese  vote  to  such  an  extent 
that  at  the  end  of  the  16th  century  no  one  would  even 
admit  that  a  Flander  ever  lived  in  the  ward. 

It  is  related  in  print  that  in  the  year  1493  Christopher 
Columbus,  after  his  discovery  of  Hispaniola,  or  Haita,  was 
blown  around  to  such  an  extent  that  his  good  ship,  the 
"Nina"  made  for  Santa  Maria.  He  had  promised  during 
the  storm  that  if  the  Holy  Virgin  would  call  it  off, 
when  he  struck  the  first  place  he  would,  with  the  whole 
bunch,  walk  naked,  except  a  thin  shirt,  and  give  thanksr 
and  on  landing  on  Santa  Maria  started  half  of  the  ship's 
crew  ashore  to  make  good,  but  the  Governor,  Don  Iva<* 
de  Castenheda,  a  plain-clothes  man,  arrested  the  bunch 
and  put  them  in  prison,  as-  he  thought  they  were  pirates; 
The  "Nina"  in  the  meantime  had  to  put  to  sea  on  account 
of  another  storm,  but  soon  eame  back  and  Columbus  had 
a  parley  with  the  Governor  and  putting  up  bail  for  his 
men  had  them  all  out,  and  on  the  24th  of  February  sailed 
away. 

Now  that  is  the  history  of  these  islands^  whether  true 
or  not,  but  the  islands  are  there  to  speak  for  themselves, 
and  a  prettier  sight  I  never  saw  in  a  tropical  climate. 
Everything  that  can  be  dreamed  of  is  grown  and  the 
picturesqueness  of  theupright  farms,  as  some  of  them  arey 
is  remarkable;  every  field  on  these  slopes  being  divided 
from  the  adjoining  one  by  a  stone  wall  or  dyke.  The 


14  HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

houses  are  built  of  adobe,  or  native  stone,  and  present  a 
strange  and  interesting  picture. 

Churches  abound  in  all  the  islands.  I  understand 
their  trade  is  all  with  Portugal,  of  which  they  are  a  de- 
pendency. The  cultivated  fields,  the  tremenduous  amount 
of  labor  expended  in  building  up  terrace  after  terrace 
on  the  sloping  hill  sides  on  which  to  plant  vines,  pine 
apple  trees  and  fruits  of  all  kinds  show  them  to  be  a  peo- 
ple at  least  of  a  dogged  and  persevering  character.  From 
a  scenic  point  of  view,  I  am  in  love  with  it.  As  a  place 
of  residence  I  am  afraid  I  would  find  things  a  little  lonely 
and  a  great  deal  too  hot. 

Saturday,  20th.  Just  finished  crib  contest  with  Mr. 
Levy  Barbour  of  Detroit,  Mich.  He  beat  me.  I  had  been 
telling  him  how  I  would  wear  his  scalp  at  my  belt  and  drag 
his  tail  feathers  through  the  lee  scuppers.  We  finished  at 
11  p.  m.  Saturday  night,  so,  I  being  defeated,  set  about 
getting  something  ready  for  the  occasion,  and  on  Sunday 
had  the  half  of  a  cantelope  scooped  out,  carved  in  the  out- 
side skin  of  it,  Wilson  Scalp  "that's  all,"  and  on  the 
other  side  "Crib."  I  decorated  the  engraving  with  cot- 
ton batting,  got  a  large  soup  tureen  and  placed  the  prize 
in  it  so  that  it  was  covered  by  the  lid.  It  made  quite  an 
imposing  appearance  (the  urn  did),  and  after  lunch  when 
we  were  all  in  the  smooking  room  we  formed  a  kind  of 
meeting,  I  was  called  on  for  a  speech  and  surrendered 
the  Championship  of  the  world  to  Mr.  Barbonr,  present- 
ing him  with  the  trophy.  He  replied  and  we  had  a  few 
drinks  and  the  affair  ended  very  happily. 

GIBRALTER. 

Monday,  21st.  Early  in  the  morning  about  11  a.  m. 
land  was  sighted  on  the  coast  of  Africa  and  soon  Spain  on 
the  opposite  shore.  The  attention  of  the  passengers  was 
held  from  this  time  onward  on  account  of  the  change  of 
scene  and  the  many  ships  sighted,  as  many  as  six  being  in 
full  view  at  one  time;  as  we  approached  Gibraltar  we 
passed  through  the  waters  where  Nelson  fought  his  fam- 
ous battle  of  Trafalgar,  saw  the  Spanish  fortification  and 
by  a  strange  coincidence  it  was  a  Spanish  gentleman — one 
of  our  passengers — that  pointed  out  the  place  to  me.  The 
old  fort  and  town  of  Tariffa  (that's  how  it  is  pronounced, 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  15 

I  don't  know  how  it  is  spelled.     It  was  all  very  inter- 
esting. 

We  soon  got  in  full  view  of  the  great  historic  rock, 
a  piece  of  real  estate  I  had  often  wished  to  see  and  that 
many  of  the  nations  of  the  earth  would  like  to  own. 

Circling  around  we  soon  got  very  close  to  it  and  a 
most  wonderful  sight  it  became  with  its  wireless  poles, 
its  roads  around,  its  observation  stations  and  buildings 
for  officers  and  men,  and  finally  its  apparent  readiness  to 
play  ball. 

We  came  to  anchor  close  to  the  town  and  were  taken 
ashore  in  a  tender,  a  neat  little  steamer,  landed  and  got 
into  a  carriage,  which  I  had  already  secured  through  an 
agent  of  Cook's  who  came  on  board.  It  was  like  all  tho 
others,  a  hackney  carriage  capable  of  seating  four  inside. 
No,  that's  wrong,  it  had  seats  for  four,  but  how  four  peo- 
ple could  sit  with  any  comfort  I  cannot  understand,  for 
the  seats  face  each  other  and  when  I  sat  down  my  knees 
practically  touched  the  seat  in  front  of  me.  The  driver 
sits  in  front  and  there  is  room  for  another  passenger 
alongside  of  him,  usually  occupied  by  the  interpreter;  at 
any  rate  we  were  all  right,  as  we  had  the  whole  carriage 
to  ourselves,  having  paid  for  it.  A  carriage  costs  $4.00 
whether  you  are  two  or  four.  We  were  rather  lucky  in 
getting  a  driver  who  spoke  pretty  fair  English,  and  was 
altogether  a  decent  fellow.  He  drove  us  through  the 
principal  streets  and  to  the  points  of  interest,  through  the 
old  Spanish  Gate  out  to  the  Gardens  where  a  bust  of 
Elliot  is  placed  on  a  shaft,  and  further  along,  over  a 
bridge,  was  one  of  Wellington.  The  town  itself  is 
quaint  and  very  picturesque,  as  is  it's  history.  We  drove 
along  the  Neutral  Zone  over  as  far  as  Spain.  At  either 
end  of  this  Neutral  Zone  or  ground,  sentries  are  stationed. 
At  the  Spanish  Gate  a  British  carriage  is  refused  admit- 
tance. At  the  British  side,  gates  are  erected  at  which 
soldiers  stand  and  refuse  admittance  to  Spanish  carriages. 
You  may  enter  on  foot  at  either  point,  after  they  search 
you  for  concealed  cannons  and  other  things  that  might 
cause  the  downfall  of  either  country. 

A  large  number  of  Spanish  people  are  employed  in 
Gibraltar  but  when  they  quit  work  are  compelled  to  walk 
out  of  town  across  the  Neutral  Zone  and  enter  the  Spanish 


10  HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

Gate,  there  to  remain  until  they  again  go  to  work  on  the 
morrow. 

The  gates  of  Gibraltar  are  closed  every  evenig  at  a 
given  hour,  varying  five  minutes  each  day  as  the  day& 
lengthen  or  shorten,  being  closed  at  5 :40  p.  m.  from  Nov. 
30th  to  December  10th,  and  in  summer  the  latest  June  5th 
to  July  4th,  at  8 :30  p.  m. 

It  had  a  population  in  1901  of  27,460  as  follows : 

Civil 20,355 

Military 6,475 

Port  and  Harbor 630     27,460 

Of  the  above  population  there  are  3198  aliens.  It  has 
an  average  rainfall  of  about  35  inches,  but  good  water 
from  the  earth  is  scarce.  As  to  its  history,  it  has  had  a 
varied  one.  It  is  one  of  the  ancient  pillars  of  Hercules, 
the  other  being  Mount  Abyla  (Cruta)  and  was  first  known 
to  the  Phoenicians.  It  was  first  inhabited  by  the  Moham- 
medans wlien  they  wanted  Spain.  It  appears  that  one 
Tarik-Ibn-Zeyad,  a  Moorish  chief,  landed  on  the  rock  on 
the  30th  of  April,  711,  taking  possession  and  naming  it 
after  himself,  Gibal-Tarik,  or  mountain  of  Tarik.  It  is 
claimed  by  the  historian  that  the  present  name  is  a  cor- 
ruption of  the  above  words.  It  has  had  many  possessors 
from  one  period  to  another,  Spanish  Moors  and  Moham- 
medan taking  it  from  each  other,  when  they  needed 
exercise,  but  since  1309  up  to  the  time  the  British  took  it 
for  keeps  it  has  had  eight  sieges— 1309-15-33-33-49-1411- 
35-62,  taken  again  by  the  Spanish.  This  capture  was 
effected  on  the  20th  of  August,  St.  Bernard's  Day,  so  he 
is  the  Patron  Saint. 

On  the  19th  of  February,  1706,  Gibraltar  was  declared 
a  free  port  by  Queen  Anne,  and  in  1713  it  was  ceded  to  the 
British  by  treaty. 

In  1799  Spain  took  a  last  chance  at  it.  This  is  known 
as  the  great  siege  of  Gibraltar  and  lasted  till  March  12th, 
1783,  when  peace  was  declared  and  Gibraltar  left  stand- 
ing, doing  business  at  the  same  old  stand.  It  was  in  this 
great  seige  that  General  Elliot  made  his  name,  a  bust  of 
him  being  placed,  as  I  mentioned,  in  the  Gardens. 

The  rock  itself  rises  on  the  bluff  side  straight  up 
1400  feet.,  crowned  by  a  powerful  battery.  The  North 
high  point  known  as  Rock  Gun  or  Wolfs  Crag  is  1250  feet 
at  the  signal  station  1255  feet  and  at  the  South  O 'Haras 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  17 

Tower  1-108  feet.  The  rock  itself  is  limestone  or  marble 
formation  and  red  sandstone. 

The  town  has  two  parts,  the  north  and  south — the 
north  being  the  business  and  best  part.  It  has  two  par- 
allel streets,  Waterport  street  and  Irishtown.  Back  of 
these  streets  on  terraces  are  built  houses,  tier  upon  tier  to 
about  250  feet  above  the  water.  An  old  Moorish  Castle 
stands  out  on  the  side  of  the  rock,  back  of  the  town.  It  is 
in  ruins  if  course,  being  built  by  the  Moors  in  732  A.  D. 
The  South  town  consists  of  private  dwellings  and  admir- 
alty quarters,  being  separated  from  the  North,  or  business 
i  by  the  Alameda  and  Public  Gardens. 

The  general  impression  made  on  a  visitor  would  be 
that  of  an  Englishman  in  Moorish  costume  smoking  Span- 
ish cigarettes.  The  houses  look  more  or  less  English,  the 
stores  Moorish  and  the  average  individual  Spanish  and 
English  and  conglomerate.  The  streets  are  very  narrow, 
the  mode  of  conveyance  being  hackney  carriage  for  the 
stranger,  donkey  mostly  for  the  Spaniard,  and  walking 
for  the  others. 

Visitors  are  now  forbidden  admittance  to  what  is 
known  as  the  Galleries,  that  being  the  name  bestowed  on 
the  fortification.  Altogether  it  is  a  wonderful  sight  and 
one  not  likely  to  be  forgotten. 

NAPLES. 

Thursday,  July  25th.  At  last,  after  12  days,  as 
pleasantly  spent  both  as  to  weather  and  the  last  week 
or  so  as  to  friendships,  we  arrived  in  a  town  that  turns 
out  to  be  a  wonder  as  to  history  and  population.  We 
could  not  land  direct  on  the  wharf  but  had  to  take  a  small 
steamer  or  tender  ( they  are  getting  a  landing  place 
ready).  A  gentleman  from  Naples  came  on  board,  in- 
formed me  that  he  was  a  guide  and  an  honest  one  at  that, 
and  could  prove  it  by  several  leters  in  his  possession  which 
he  practically  insisted  on  me  reading.  I  read  some  of  them, 
but  not  knowing  how  many  guides  would  be  necessary, 
concluded  not  to  engage  too  many  until  I  found  out  the 
strength  of  the  enemy.  Still  my  would-be  guide  hung  on 
to  me  and  directed  the  small  army  that  attached  them- 
selves to  my  baggage  and  bossed  them  in  a  true  Neapoli- 
tan style,  giving  instructions  as  to  proceeding  with  the 
Custom  House  officials,  and  indeed  was  quite  a  help.  In 


18  HOW   I   DID    EUEOPE 

a  short  time  he  reduced  my  army  to  one  and  made  him 
pack  everything  from  the  boat  to  the  tender.  The  army 
sweat  to  the  extent  of  2  francs  and  after  the  Custom  in- 
spection was  over  and  my  things  deposited  in  a  carriage 
selected  by  my  would-be  general,  my  army  of  one  inform- 
ed me  through  his  superior  robber  chief,  that  while  I  had 
kindly  paid  him  for  taking  my  things  on  board  the  tender, 
I  had  forgotten  all  about  the  Custom  House,  etc.  Being 
thus  rudely  awakened  I  dug  in  my  pockets  and  discovered 
a  lot  of  small  change,  dimes  and  centimes,  dumped  them 
all  in  the  hands  of  the  army  and  inquired  if  that  was  all 
right.  My  would  be  manager  announced  that  it  was  all 
right  and  directed  the  carriage  to  proceed. 

It  did  but  we  had  not  gone  one  hundred  feet  when 
the  pirate-in-charge  of  the  one-horse  craft  turned  around 
and  announced  that  it  would  cost  me  one  dollar  in  Ameri- 
can money  to  get  to  Bertolini's  Hotel.  Not  knowing 
how  far  it  was,  I  feebly  instructed  him  to  proceed  and 
that  I  would  settle  when  he  delivered  the  goods.  This 
seemed  to  quiet  the  animal  and  after  about  twenty-five 
minutes'  drive  we  came  to  a  stop.  We  had  arrived  at  the 
lift,  or  rather  at  the  entrance  to  a  long  tunnel  leading  to 
the  lift,  which  is  240  feet. 

A  dapper  little  fellow  came  out  of  the  office  end  of  the 
tunnel  and  I  asked  him  how  much  I  should  pay  the  driver 
and  he  said  30  cents  and  at  this  the  driver  looked  the 
price.  I  instructed  this  new  found  friend  to  pay  the  cab- 
man 50  cents  and,  giving  him  a  five  franc  bill — or  one  dol- 
lar in  American  money — bade  him  buy  a  farm  on  the 
change.  The  hack  man  took  his  medicine  as  if  he  liked 
it  and  cracked  his  whip  like  ready  money. 

This  little  fellow,  whose  name  I  did  not  ascertain, 
proved  to  be  a  most  gentlemanly  little  fellow  and  had 
complete  control  over  all  carriage  drivers  that  came  to 
the  Hotel  and,  it  being  the  best  in  the  city,  the  drivers 
were  afraid  to  incur  his  ill-will. 

Our  things  were  soon  on  the  lift,  and  arriving  at  the 
office  we  found  a  little  Swiss  maid  in  charge.  She  spoke 
English  with  a  Cockney  accent,  so  much  so  indeed  that  I 
asked  her  if  she  were  not  English. 

We  were,  as  per  our  request,  assigned  to  a  room  with 
a  bath,  but  it  might  have  as  well  been  called  a  bath  and 
room,  for  there  was*  room  enough  in  the  bath-room  to 
start  a  bathing  establishment  and  the  room  was  large  in 


AND    HOW    IT   DID    ME  19 

proportion  (so  were  the  charges  as  we  afterwards  found 
out). 

Naples  we  found  to  be  quite  a  city,  of  about  550,000 
and  the  largest  city  in  Italy  as  to  numbers.  It  is  very  old 
in  history,  dating  back  to  1056  B.  C.  It  is  of  Greek  ori- 
gin. It  was  formerly  the  Capital  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Naples  and  is  now  the  Capital  of  the  Providence  of 
Naples  in  the  Kingdom  of  Italy.  It  is  not  great  of  itself 
in  commerce,  but  it  has  a  history  and  possesses  art  treas- 
ures not  of  his  own  but  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum  that 
make  it  noted  throughout  the  world.  It  is  supposed  to  be 
the  most  beautifully  situated  city  in  the  world — at  the 
base  of  Mount  Vesuvius  and  on  the  Bay  of  Naples.  It 
seems  it  used  to  be  a  saying:  "See  Naples  and  die." 
That  was  all  right.  I  would  say  the  same,  but  let  the 
death  part  of  it  be  a  long  time  after. 

Naples  as  a  town  is  not  a  thing  of  beauty  in  its  build- 
ings, so  far  as  architecture  in  general  is  concerned,  but  it 
has  some  very  beautiful  places,  especially  where  their  his- 
toric value  is  concerned,  and  when  I  say  this  I  don't  mean 
the  city  itself,  but  its  immediate  surroundings. 

July  27th.  Spent  a  very  pleasant  day  in  the  Naples 
National  Museum  where  all,  or  pretty  nearly  all,  the 
art  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum  are  stored.  Most  won- 
derful is  about  as  much  as  I  can  say,  after  looking  at  their 
marbles,  their  bronzes  and  their  paintings,  mosiacs.  per- 
son al  ornaments,  etc.  Naples  has  some  fine  buildings. 
I  say  some,  but  her  average  is  common.  One  building 
and  its  contents  stands  out  beyond  all,  and  that  is  San 
Martino,  an  old  Monastery,  now  owned  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  iised  as  a  kind  of  museum.  It  contains  a  won- 
derful collection  of  originals  and  copies  of  old  masters; 
carvings  in  wood  by  old  monks;  mosaics  of  great  merit, 
and  a  picture  supposed  to  be  painted  (a  ceiling  effect  in 
48  hours  by  Luca  Giordano,  representing  Judith)  when 
the  painter  was  in  his  72nd  year.  Looking  at  the  picture 
and  the  age  of  the  painter,  a  chance  for  a  miracle  or  a 
large  number  of  assistants  comes  in. 

The  Belvedere,  a  military  station  — also  on  this  the 
highest  hill  around.  It  contains  the  Castle  St.  Elmo  and 
a  grand  view  of  the  city  and  Vesuvius  can  be  had  from 
this  point. 

One  phase  of  business  life  in  Naples  should  be  men- 
tioned, as  it  will  strike  the  ordinary  visitor  as  strange — 


20  HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

that  is  the  milk  delivery.  Instead  of  wagons  rattling 
up  the  streets  in  the  middle  of  the  night  and  your  milk 
left  on  the  door  step,  the  Neapolitans  are  served  from 
herds  of  goats  or  a  cow  or  two.  Almost  any  afternoon, 
you  will  see  from  5  to  10  goats  on  the  sidewalk,  waiting 
the  return  of  the  boss  and  one  of  their  number,  that  has 
been  run  upstairs  to  be  milked  for  a  customer. 

The  goats  can  get  up  a  flight  of  stairs  quicker  than 
the  milker.  It  is  quite  a  sight  to  see  half  a  dozen  goats- 
quietly  chewing  the  cud  on  the  sidewalk,  while  the  boss 
is  chewing  the  rag  upstairs.  Any  one  desiring  cows' 
milk,  instead  of  goats,  watch  when  the  cow  man  comes 
around  with  a  couple  of  COWTS,  and  lower  a  can  or  pitcher 
from  the  3rd.  or  4th.  ,  story  window  and  wait  till  the 
COAV  is  milked  into  the  recepticle.  No  pure  food  inspect- 
ion necessary.  You  see  your  goat  or  cow;  you  watch  the 
operation;  no  middle  man  here;  it  is  direct  from  the 
producer  to  the  consumer. 

POMPEII. 

July  26th.  Took  the  train  in  the  morning,  an  after 
one  hour's  ride  reached  the  station.  The  trains  are 
something  like  the  the  English,  but  a  little  worse,  I  hope. 
The  first-class  are  not  compared  to  the  American  trains. 
We  got  aboard  and  our  tickets  were  collected  when  pass- 
ing out  of  the  gate  at  Pompeii,  and  so  far  as  I  remember, 
we  could  have  had  a  third-class  ticket  and  ridden  in  a 
first-class  car.  Anyhow,  we  got  there,  wralked  about  a 
couple  of  blocks,  bought  tickets  and  a  guide  and  started 
to  visit  the  world-renowned  City  of  Pompeii.  It  would 
appear  that  it  was  founded  about  600  B.  C.,  and  had  a 
very  up  and  down  sort  of  existence  until  about  80  B.  C. 
when  the  Romans  having  got  into  the  habit  of  taking  any 
old  thing  from  a  city  to  a  nation,  annexed  Pompeii  and 
made  it  a  kind  of  out-of-town  residence  place.  It  was 
about  this  time  that  Rome  was  splurging  so  much  in  fast 
life  and  Pompeii  became  the  scene  of  some  of  the  greatest 
feasts,,  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  that  the  world  has  ever 
heard  of. 

It  practically  became  the  centre  of  refinement,  art  and 
licentious  vulgarity.  It  would  seem  from  what  I  can 
learn  that  religion  had  become  practically  dead  so  far  as 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  21 

real  belief  goes  among-  th^  enlightened,  but  they  kept  up 
the  appearance  to  keep  the  poorer  element  in  subjection, 
and  to  such  extremes  did  they  go  in  their  religious  decep- 
tion that  we  find  goddesses  that  were  placed  in  the  differ- 
ent temples  with  holes  in  the  back  of  their  heads  from 
which  pipes  lead  to  under  ground  passages.  The 
priests  of  these  special  gods  would,  upon  occasions,  speak 
through  the  pipes  when  it  became  necessary  and  a  miracle 
was  wrought  immediately.  I  have  seen  the  gods  and 
goddesses  and  their  temples,  and  they  surely  had  enough 
to  satisfy  any  Roman  community ;  but  with  all  their  appar- 
ent hypocricy,  extravagance  and  licentiousness  Pompeii 
was  the  centre  of  art  and  philosophy. 

Its  first  great  trouble  occurred  in  63  A.  D.  ,  when  a 
violent  earthquake,  on  the  5th  of  February,  knocked 
tilings  galley  west,  upset  their  temples  and  their  homes. 
The  city  was  deserted  for  a  time  but  gradually  people 
came  back  and  rebuilt  their  houses  and  some  of  the  tem- 
ples and  public  buildings,  although  it  would  appear  in  a 
half-hearted  way,  but  gradually  gaining  confidence  from 
year  to  year,  so  that  in  79  A.  D.,  when  it  was  destroyed, 
it  had  regained  most  of  its  wonted  splendour  and  all  of 
its  vices. 

The  city  was  buried — one  account  of  the  destruction 
says  the  23rd  of  August,  79  A.  D.  and  another  the  23rd  of 
November  of  the  same  year.  Anyhow,  it  occurred,  and 
from  what  I  can  learn  by  reading,  the  shaking  of  the 
earth  on  this  occasion  was  followed  by  dense  clouds  of 
black  smoke  and  volcanic  ashes  so  thick  and  so  black  that 
when  it  settled  on  Pompeii,  persons  could  not  see  each 
other.  Deluges  of  rain  beat  down  the  ashes  and  pumice 
stone  dust.  People  became  wild,  as  in  all  panics,  hun- 
dreds attempted  to  make  their  escape  through  the  marine 
gate  to  the  sea,  and  I  was  informed  that  owing  to  the  nar- 
rowness of  this  street  (as,  indeed,  of  all  streets  in 
Pompeii)  it  became  choked  up  with  people  who  perished, 
and  when  this  street  was  excavated,  the  largest  portion 
of  bones  was  found  there. 

The  eruption,  it  seems,  lasted  for  about  three  days, 
and  people  who  had  escaped  returned  more  or  less,  especi- 
ally those  who  had  rich  belongings,  or  those  who  knew  of 
rich  belongings  of  others,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  much 


22  HOW   I    DID    EUROPE 

looting  was  done,  as  happened  when  San  Francisco  was 
destroyed. 

The  situation  in  Pompeii  appeared  to  be  hopeless  and 
no  one  seemed  to  have  enough  courage  to  take  hold,  al- 
though the  reigning  Emperor  Titus  seemed  determined  to 
help.  Money  and  other  necessaries  were  sent  to  the  relief 
of  the  people,  but  he  found  new  troubles  of  his  own  and 
forgot  Pompeii. 

The  former  residents  who  escaped  were  not  desirous 
of  trying  again  and  so  the  city  was  left  to  itself.  Cen- 
turies of  accumulation  completely  buried  the  former  art 
centre  and  it  became  entirely  forgotten.  No  one  seemed 
to  know  where  it  was  until  in  1592  an  architect,  by  the 
name  of  Fantana,  when  cutting  for  an  aqueduct  run 
across  some  old  foundations  and  inscriptions,  and  while 
he  knew  he  had  struck  something  old,  he  did  not  know  it 
was  part  of  Pompeii. 

The  discovery  of  Herculaneum  in  1748,  destroyed  at 
the  same  time  as  Pompeii,  set  the  wise  ones  guessing,  and 
after  a  lot  of  talk  some  prisoners  were  set  to  work  excavat- 
ing, but  not  to  dig  up  and  expose  the  buried  city,  but  for 
works  of  art.  In  1860  it  was  taken  hold  of  in  earnest,  and 
what  we  see  of  it  is  on  account  of  the  efforts  from  that 
time  on.  As  it  is,  and  as  we  saw  it,  and  its  products  else- 
where, it  was  and  is  wonderful.  Its  temples  were  grand, 
both  in  size  and  appointments ;  its  statues  and  bronzes  are 
of  world-wide  reputation,  and  while  I  have  seen  most  of 
them  that  were  collected  together,  I  am  not  qualified  as 
an  art  student  to  comment  further  than  to  say,  as  far  as 
I  can  see  and  know,  they  are  very  wonderful,  both  in  de- 
sign and  execution. 

I  was  informed  that  when  the  city  was  destroyed  it 
contained  about  30,000  population.  Some  celebrated 
characters  lived  and  died  there.  The  houses  were  one 
and  two  stories.  I  think  there  was  only  one  three 
story  building  in  the  place.  Some  paintings  in  the  form 
of  panels  and  freizes  are  still  on  the  walls  of  the  more  re- 
cently excavated  buildings.  A  great  deal  of  restoration 
has  been  done,  but  the  streets,  as  a  rule,  are  as  they  were 
found.  Stepping  stones  are  found  at  all  crossings  and  on 
all  streets  may  be  found  marks  of  the  wheels  of  the 
vehicles  then  used. 

Gods  in  those  days  were  plentiful,  as  indicated  by  the 
many  temples.  The  people  drank  much  and  gambled 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  23 

more.  They  were  very  rich  or  awfully  poor,  either  slave 
or  owner,  but  all  imbued,  it  would  seem,  with  the  one  con- 
suming idea  of  immorality  as  we  understand  it  today. 
But  be  all  these  things  as  they  may,  Pompeii  to  me,  from 
what  I  know  of  her  past  and  what  I  can  see  of  her  at  pres- 
ent, is  great  and  an  object  lesson  to  the  civilized  world  as 
a  copy  and  a  warning. 

THE  POSILIPO. 

The  drive  out  from  Naples  is  fine.  You  see  grottos 
or  real  cave  dwellers,  houses  literally  cut  into  the  Tufa 
or  mud  stone  from  the  volcano  that  is  used  in  build- 
ing all  the  houses  in  Naples.  In  driving  out  this  way  you 
also  pass  the  house  where  Garibaldi  died  (his  body  rests 
in  Sicily,  his  native  home).  We  also  passed  a  cave  or  cut 
in  the  rock,  where  we  found  a  blacksmith  shop  on  the 
road  level,  a  dwelling  above  and  on  top  of  all  a  church, 
and  I  wondered  did  it  happen  that  way,  or  were  they  put 
there  as  representing  Hell,  Earth  and  Heaven. 

\Ve  also  had  our  attention  called  to  an  ancient 
residence  on  an  island  where  Cassius  summered,  a  place 
where  St.  Paul  landed  on  his  way  to  Rome,  and  a  summer 
residence  of  a  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Nero,  somewhat 
better  known  as  a  fiddler  than  even  Schmitz,  who  used  to 
spend  his  evenings  practising  for  the  grand  concert  in 
which  he  led  when  Rome  was  burned,  and  this  recalls  a 
thought,  why  didn't  that  other  fiddler  play  when  San 
Francisco  was  burning?  Well,  perhaps  he  was  making 
other  arrangements. 

On  this  drive  as  well  as  on  the  trip  to  Pompeii  we  were 
accompanied  by  my  puzzle  and  his  wife,  who  sat  at  our 
table  on  the  steamer,  and  who  turned  out  to  be  most  ex- 
cellent people,  and  who  at  Pompeii  seemed  to  enjoy  with 
us  their  meal  of  flies,  as  well  as  the  slumming  of  Naples. 
They  are  gone,  pleasant  memories  linger;  not  of  the  flies 
or  the  slums,  but  of  the  puzzle. 

LA  CAVE. 

July  28th.  Took  train  and  guide  for  La  Cave  to  take 
in  some  of  the  most  beautiful  scenery  I  have  yet  enjoyed. 
Our  guide  is  the  man  who  has  driven  us  around  Naples. 
His  good-natured  " please "  and  a  "Mr.  Wilson "  when  he 


24  HOW    I    DID    EUEOPE 

wants  attention  are  a  part  of  his  accomplishments. 

A  ride  of  two  hours  brought  us  to  La  Cave,  so-called 
because  of  caves.  We  stayed  here  long  enough  to  go  to 
the  Hotel  Londres,  where  I  had  a  bottle  of  beer  and  had 
another  put  in  our  carriage  as  a  safeguard,  because  in 
Italy  you  can  get  wine  almost  anywhere,  but  beer  seldom. 
The  whip  cracked  and  we  were  off.  By  the  way,  if  I  have 
not  mentioned  it  before,  the  cracking  of  the  whip  in  Italy 
is  a  very  important  affair.  Crack  your  whip  and  it  seems 
to  me  you  are  at  liberty  to  run  over  anyone  who  should 
ordinarily  hear  your  crack.  We  travelled  for  16  miles 
through  villages,  villas  and  hills.  There  may  be  prettier 
scenery  somewhere  else  in  the  world,  but  at  present  I  am 
a  Missourian.  I  thought  the  people  in  the  Azores  were 
great  in  reclaiming  land  by  building  walls,  but  they 
hadn't  graduated  from  the  grammer  school  in  that  in- 
dustry, compared  with  the  finished  college  people  of  hor- 
ticulture and  venticulture  of  the  Appenines.  Why,  walls 
10  to  30  feet  high 'of  rocks  are  built  on  almost  perpen- 
dicular mountain  sides  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  about 
four  feet  of  level  ground.  Then  they  have  to  go  and  rob 
nature  from  some  other  place  for  earth,  pack  it  in  baskets 
on  their  shoulder  or  head,  and  then  plant  either  grapes 
or  lemons  and  attend  to  them  in  such  a  manner  that  if 
Calif ornians  devoted  one-quarter  of  the  time  to  their 
orchards  and  vineyards,  it  seems  to  me  our  wines  and 
fruits  would  be  so  materially  benefitted  that  we  would  be 
for  quality  the  wine  and  fruit  country  of  the  world. 
Well,  this  story  is  almost  as  long  as  our  drive. 

AMALFI. 

We  arrived  at  Amalfi,  after  a  drive  of  2%  hours.  I 
should  remark,  however,  that  the  road  we  had  traversed 
was  almost  on  the  sea  coast  and  a  rough  one  at  that, 
but  the  road  was  a  dandy,  and  all  the  way,  as  I  learned 
after  lunch  wrhen  we  drove  to  Sorrento,  has  a  bulkhead 
wall  on  the  ocean  side  for  about  36  miles  about  2'  6" 
high  of  stone.  Sometimes  large  rocks  fall  from  the 
overhanging  cliffs  and  carry  away  parts  of  this  wall,  but 
the  Province  takes  care  of  it  and  the  rock  that  tumbles 
down  is  used  to  build  up  the  new  wall. 

In  Amalfi  I  am  sure  I  saw  old  men  of  70  or  80  who 


AND    HOW   IT    DID    ME  25 

were  born  in  the  place  and  I  believe  never  knew  what  it 
meant  to  have  shoes  on  their  feet. 

I  wandered  around  after  having  lunch,  waiting  for  it 
to  get  cool,  and  I  was  either  importuned  by  carriage  driv- 
ers for  hire,  beggars  for  money,  or  stared  at  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  I  didn't  get  a  look  at  the  Cathedral,  which  in 
Italy  is  usually  the  most  magnificient  sight  of  the  town; 
no  matter  how  poor  in  residence,  it  is  always  rich  in 
church*  s. 

SORRENTO. 

Well,  a  continuation  of  our  drive  brought  us  into 
Sorrento  in  the  evening  about  8 :30  p.  m.  We  were  driven 
(to  the  Hotel  Tramontane.  We  were  assigned  to  quarters, 
consisting  of  a  large  drawing-room  and  bed-room  opening 
out  on  the  waters  of  the  Bay  of  Naples.  We  afterwards 
j'ound  out  that  these  rooms  wer  occupied  by  the  then 
Prince  Imperial  of  Prussia,  Frederick,  in  62,  and  that 
the  Princess  of  Russia,  who  afterward  became  somebody 
else,  had  also  slept  and  possibly  snored  in  these  very  same 
r.xuns.  We  were  tired  and,  like  the  former  ro}ral  occu- 
pants, luul  dinner  served  in  the  apartments,  not  because 
oi'  our  royalty  but  because  of  the  hour. 

The  Feast  of  Santa  Ana  was  finished  at  11  by  a  great 
•  1  is; >lay  of  fireworks  close  to  our  room.  I  forgot  to  men- 
tion that  I  tipped  the  waiter  with  a  franc  and  someone 
else  on  account  of  our  satchels,  or  something,  but  in  the 
morning  it  seemed  to  me  that  everyone  in  the  hotel  was 
in  our  employ,  not  permanently  but  just  long  enough  to 
acquire  a  franc.  At  10  a.  m.,  after  settling  with  every- 
body I  could  find,  my  wife  informed  me,  that  it  was  at 
least  an  hour  since  she  had  given  the  chambermaid  a 
franc,  and  as  I  had  noticed  her  watching  me  and  saying 
''good-night"  as  I  passed,  I  hurried  back  and  found  her 
beating  my  pillow  and  using  the  most  violent  language. 
It  was  Italian !  She  saw  me ;  I  saw  her.  She  smiled ;  I 
coughed  up  a  franc.  The  atmosphere  cleared,  so  did  1, 
thinking  I  was  happy  if  broke.  We  took  a  small  boat 
and  went  out  to  meet  the  steamer  that  was  to  take  us  to 
the  blue  Grotto  at  the  Island  of  Capri.  Just  as  I  was 
getting  on  the  steamer  I  remembered  that  neither  the 
second  cook  nor  the  dish-washer  had  been  tipped.  The 


26r  HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

result  was  indigestion  and  dirty  water  all  the  balance  of 
the  day. 

CAPRL 

We  steamed  away  and  after  about  an  hour  arrived  at 
Capri,  where  a  number  of  small  boats  were  in  attendance. 
Only  two  persons  and  the  boatman  are  allowed,  unless 
they  are  small. 

The  rocks  on  the  island  here  are  straight  up  and  down 
and  the  steamer  ran  close  to  shore,  within  a  hundred 
feet  of  the  sheer  rocks. 

A  small  opening  marks  the  entrance  to  the  Grotto 
and  so  low  that  you  are  compelled  to  lie  fiat  in  the  boat 
to  get  through,  but  once  inside  the  Grotto  widens  out  and 
is  arched  over  almost  like  one  of  those  large  cathedrals. 
It  is  about  100  yards  long  and  70  wide;  but  the  great 
thing  about  it  is  the  color  of  the  water.  When  you  are 
at  the  further  end  and  coming  back  to  the  opening,  the 
color  effect  in  blue  is  indescribable.  You  duck  again  and 
soon  are  out  on  the  Bay  of  Naples.  All  the  boats  are 
making  for  the  steamer,  and  after  paying  your  entrance 
fee  to  a  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Alibaba,  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  40  thieves,  (the  boatmen),  are  getting  what  is 
left  by  yelling  at  you  "macoro  macoro",  which  being  in- 
terpreted means:  "I  would  like  to  cut  your  throat  and 
scuttle  your  ship  if  you  don't  yield  all  you've  got."  It 
is  a  yell  that  the  most  ignorant  dog  of  a  foreigner  under- 
stands without  any  Baydecker  notes  to  enlighten  him. 
We  paid,  but  I  had  some  money  in  the  Bank  at  Naples 
that  they  did  not  know  about  and  therefore  was  not  asked 
to  write  a  cheque.  After  our  release  from  the  pirates  we 
landed  on  the  island  proper,  where,  should  the  native 
landsmen  prove  to  be  highwaymen,  we  would  at  least 
have  a  run  for  our  money — which  we  couldn't  have 
with  the  pirates  we  had  just  left. 

Capri  is  a  small  island  in  the  Bay  of  Naples  and  17 
miles  south  of  that  eity.  At  its  extremes  it  is  4^2  miles 
by  2,  but  has  only  5%  square  miles  of  surface.  It  is  very 
mountainous  and  pretty.  The  highest  point,  Mount 
Solaro,  is  1920  feet.  It  has  a  population  of  about  6500, 
two  towns,  Capri  and  Anacapri.  A  couple  of  Saints  are 
kept  busy — San  Costanza  taking  care  of  Capri,  and  St. 
Antonio  looking  out  for  the  Anacapri  contingent.  These 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  27 

.saints  have  their  regular  feast  clays  and  the  other  363 
days  have  their  regular  or  special  feastivities. 

Nature  and  the  women  raise  fruit,  oil  and  wine.  The 
men  raise  Cain  and  the  price  of  carriage  or  boat  hire. 
Some  35,000  of  the  sucker  family  visit  the  island  an- 
nually, and  yet  the  place  is  well  worth  seeing  even  at 
the  price. 

It  has  been  known,  more  or  less,  since  600  B.  C.,  but 
became  noted  as  the  residence  of  Augustus  and  Tiberius; 
the  latter  having  kept  house  here  for  ten  years  from 
27  A.  D.,  and  it  is  said  he  amused  himself  by  having  the 
prisoners  thrown  over  a  cliff  and  listening  for  the  echo 
of  the  dull  thud  from  below.  This  form  of  amusement 
ceased  the  morning  Tiberius  cashed  in. 

Capri,  the  town,  is  reached  by  a  drive  up  and  around 
the  hill  or  mountain.  It  is  pleasantly  situated,  and 
commands  a  good  view.  It  consists  of  a  church,  one 
short,  straight  street  and  another  street  like  the  natives. 
At  the  end  of  the  natives'  street  is  a  hotel  where  we  had 
a  passing  good  meal. 

A  few  years  after  the  death  of  Tiberius  the  island 
was  handed  around  from  one  to  the  other  till  it  became 
almost  thread  bare,  and  they  were  about  to  close  out  at 
bargain  counter  prices,  when  along  comes  a  German 
painter  by  the  name  of  A.  Kopish  and  discovers  the 
Blue  Grotto. 

Immediately  following  this,  which  occured  in  1826, 
a  miraculous  cavern  was  discovered  in  the  hillside. 
Then  the  future  of  the  island  became  assured;  the  cor- 
porate stock  was  watered  and  dividends  were  declared 
on  preferred  and  common  shares. 

After  we  had  seen  the  cave,  in  which  a  shrine  and  a 
light  are  maintained,  heard  the  legends  of  the  place 
and  how  it  happened,  we  were  driven  down  to  the  boat, 
which  was  waitng  to  take  us  back  to  Naples. 

On  our  return  to  Naples  in  the  evening  we  had  the  same 
experience  in  landing  on  small  boats,  but  in  this  case  we 
put  it  up  to  the  guide  Ananias  to  settle  with  Alababa. 
Our  guide  had  been  our  driver  so  no  trouble  was  had  in 
getting  a  carriage.  A  cracking  of  whips  and  a  drive  of 
25  minutes  brought  us  to  our  cave  in  Naples,  which  we 
entered  like  the  hunted  animal,  glad  to  get  back  to  a  place 
where  at  least  you  could  lock  your  door,  put  your  watch 


23  HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

under  your  pilllow,  throw  your  purse  through  the  tran- 
som and  lie  down  to  take  a  well-paid  for,  if  not  a  well- 
earned  sleep. 

Tuesday,  July  30th.  Spent  the  above  date  in  the 
Museum  and  visiting  the  bank  and  getting  ready  for 
Rome  the  following  day.  Took  a  carriage  late  in  the  a±- 
ternoon  and  visited  the  slums  part  of  the  town  again ;  it 
surely  is  a  corker! 

EOME. 

Wednesday,  31st.  After  breakfast  in  room  and  set- 
tling with  the  Hotel  proper,  and  paying  off  all  the  help, 
we  finally  got  seated  in  a  carriage  on  our  way  to  the 
station,  and  after  the  usual  amount  of  fussing  with  get- 
ting our  baggage  from  the  carriage  into  the  cars,  at  9  :50 
the  horn  sounded,  the  whistle  blew  and  we  were  off,  and 
at  2:15  in  the  afternoon  on  time  we  stepped  off  the  train 
and  taking  a  carriage  were  driven  to  the  Hotel  Splendid 
on  the  Corso  Umberto,  and,  as  usual,  assigned  to  good 
quarters.  After  getting  washed  we  took  a  carriage  and 
having  the  hotel  man  speak  to  the  Roman  citizens  in  his 
native  vernacular  to  drive  around  for  a  couple  of  hours 
without  explanation  to  us,  but  he  knew  we  conld  speak 
English  and  he  thought  he  could ;  so  the  opportunity  to  let 
us  see  that  he  could  talk  was  too  much  for  him  and  he 
told  us  the  places  he  passed,  and  it  helped  out  when  we 
really  started  out  sight-seeing.  After  dinner  we  wander- 
ed around  some,  visiting  some  of  the  shops  that  seem  to 
keep  open  especially  for  Americans. 

Thursday,  Aug.  1st.  Ordered  a  carriage  and  guide 
and  started  doing  Rome  in  good  earnest.  Now  let  me  say, 
Rome  was  and  is  and  will  be  quite  a  place  in  the  world's 
affairs,  and  while  there  are  a  few  things  I  do  not  know 
about  it  and  one  or  two  things  I  may  have  overlooked, 
and  some  of  the  things  I  saw  or  was  told  about  that  I  am 
not  thoroughly  convinced  of,  yet  it  is  a  most  wonderful 
place.  I  need  not  write  when  it  first  got  a  move  on  or 
advertised  corner  lots  for  sale  on  which  to  erect  forums 
or  Basilicas,  Pagan  temples  or  Christian  churches.  It  has 
been  known  more  or  less  since  750  years  B.  C.  and  has 
ranged  as  high  in  population  as  a  million  in  the  2nd  cen- 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  29 

tury,  the  time  when  it  seems  it  attained  its  great  prom- 
inence, and  got  as  low  as  85,000  in  the  16th  century  anct 
about  450,000  at  the  present  time.  It  is  on  the  Tiber  or 
on  both  sides  of  it,  although  the  book  says  on  the  left  bank 
where  the  seven  hills  are,  called:  Capitoline,  Quirinal, 
Viminal,  Esquiline,  Palatine,  Aventine  and  Caelius — not 
much  as  hills  go.  These  hills  were  the  site  of  the  ancient 
tovrn,  but  got  left  or  forgotten,  when  more  choice  lots 
were  put  on  the  market. 

I  drove  to  the  American  College  and  presented  a  let- 
ter  i'rom  the  Archbishop  of  San  Francisco,  requesting  the 
privilege  of  seeing  the  Pope.  Got  another  document  and 
u -«s  taken  to  another  part  of  the  city,  where  I  presented 
this  letter  and  was  informed  that  tickets  would  be  sent  to 
my  hotel.  Saturday  was  to  be  arranged  if  possible,  as  we 
wanted  to  leave  Sunday. 

St.  Peters'. 

We  then  began  with  St.  Peter 's  and  saw  it  very 
thoroughly,  first  because  of  the  guide  that  we  had,  and 
secondly  because  of  the  letter.  St.  Peter's  would  take  all 
of  this  book  and  many  others  to  tell  about,  but  a  little 
space  will  be  all  at  present. 

It  seems  that  this  was  the  old  site  of  the  Circus  of 
Nero  and  where  St.  Peter  was  buried.  Anyhow  it  would 
appear  that  about  313  the  Christians  in  Rome,  who  or- 
ganized in  the  middle  of  the  first  century  and  had  become 
r<M>  numerous,  had  been  getting  some  hard  knocks  from  a 
)ot  of  nilrrs.  when  along  comes  Constantine  about  this 
time  and  proclaims  equal  rights  to  all  religions,  and  upon 
the  request  of  Pope  Sylvester  I,  this  Emperor  actually 
started  to  build  St.  Peter's  Church. 

The  original  one  went  to  the  bad  in  the  course  of 
time,  and  in  1452  the  foundation  for  the  present  building 
was  laid — Nicholas  V  being  responsible  for  the  idea  of  a 
new  St.  Peter's.  It  continued  to  be  built  and  painted  off 
and  on  by  all  the  more  or  less  celebrated  architects,  sculp- 
tors and  painters,  including  Michael  Angelo  and  Raphael 
The  new  church  was  consecrated  by  Pope  Urban  on  the 
18th  of  Nov.  1626,  1300  years  after  the  day  the  old  church 
was  consecrated  by  St.  Sylvester. 

We  visited  the  place  where  St.  Peter  is  buried,  in  a 
spot  immediately  under  the  Papal  Altar,  and  under  the 


30  HOW   I   DID   EUROPE 

Alter  and  above  St.  Peter's  remains  is  a  small  box  con- 
taining the  clippings  of  skin  from  the  young  kids  that 
are  skinned  to  make  the  stole  for  newly  consecrated  bish- 
ops. Visited  the  jewel  and  regalia  room  or  treasury  and 
saw  the  precious  jewels  and  vestments  worn  by  the  Pope, 
and  the  several  statues  on  their  day  when  the  church 
celebrates,  such  as  St.  Peter's,  etc. 

Saw  all  the  celebrated  mosiacs,  copies  of  the  master- 
pieces in  paint  and  the  mosaic  masterpieces  in  that  par- 
ticular line.  Visited  the  rooms  in  which  the  mosaics  are 
made,  and  had  a  general  and  special  look  all  over  the 
church  and  its  surroundings: 

The  Colisseum  and  Forum. 

Friday  Aug.  2nd.  Visited  the  Colisseum  and  Forum. 
The  Colisseum  was  called  the  "Amphithaetrum"  and 
was  considered  the  most  imposing  structure  in  the 
world;  was  completed  by  Titus  in  80  A.  D.  Its  present 
name,  it  is  said,  was  derived  from  the  colossal  statue  of 
Nero.  It  was  elliptical  in  form,  1719  feet  in  circumfer- 
ence and  was  about  158  feet  high.  It  could  seat  between 
40,000  and  50,000  people  without  putting  up  the  sign, 
4 'standing  room  only".  When  it  was  opened  it  had  a 
run  of  100  days  fighting  between  man  and  beast,  and  it  is 
said  5000  wild  animals  were  slain.  No  account  of  the  men 
slain  is  given,  as  it  seems  there  were  more  of  them  than 
the  wild  animals  left;  it  had  quite  an  exciting  time,  but 
in  the  middle  ages  went  to  the  bow-wows,  as  the  other 
animals  had  ceased  to  come  to  it,  but  what's  left  of  it  is 
still  quite  a  show. 

The  Forum,  or  at  least  two  of  them,  are  good  to  look 
on,  especially  the  Forum  of  Tragan  which  has  been  dug 
out  and  some  restoring  done  to  show  how  it  happened. 

St.  Paul's  Church. 

We  then  drove  around  the  old  Roman  walls  and  outside 
the  city  to  St.  Paul's  Church,  which  was  built  with 
Peter's  pence,  and  I  have  decided  in  my  mind  that  this 
was  what  started  the  saying  of  "Robbing  Peter  to  pay 
Paul",  for  no  excuse  could  be  found  for  the  erection  of 
such  a  church  in  such  a  place. 

It  is  in  the  country,  but  it  is  said  Paul  was  buried  in 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  31 

this  spot  after  he  was  beheaded,  about  3  miles  further 
out  in  the  country,  at  a  spot  where  now  stands 
another  old  convent  and  church,  and  the  only  reason  I  can 
assign  for  him  getting  himself  beheaded  out  there  was 
to  give  the  carriage  drivers  a  chance  to  collect  extra  fare 
to  drive  people  out  to  visit  the  spot,  as  outside  the  walls 
is  extra. 

St.  Paul's  Church  is  beautiful,  but  no  congregation  to 
worship — just  a  show  place. 

The  Catacombs. 

Out  in  the  country  we  also  visited  the  Catacombs,  a 
place  where  early  Christians  were  buried  and  often  took 
refuge  before  they  found  a  resting  place.  The  earth  is  of 
a  muddy  volcanic  origin.  It  was  dug  out  in  passages  and 
on  the  side  of  these  passages  niches  were  dug  out  large 
enough  to  place  the  body  in.  Those  who  were  put  to 
death  on  account  of  their  religion  had  the  consolation 
that  when  their  little  hole  was  dug  out  it  would  have  an 
arched  shape  instead  of  a  common  oblong  hole ;  therefore 
it  paid  in  the  long  run  to  be  a  martyr. 

This  graveyard  was  stories  high;  when  they  filled  up 
one  place  they  went  deeper  and  a  person  would  have  little 
show  in  reading  the  street  signs  down  there.  So  this 
was  one  of  the  places  I  was  glad  we  had  a  guide  along. 

Hadrian's  tomb  is  one  of  the  conspicuous  piles  that 
stand  out.  There  are  no  windows  and  it  is  circular. 

St.  John's  Church. 

St.  John's  the  Lateran,  is  a  wonderful  old  church  in 
sculpture  and  mosaics  and,  if  I  remember  right,  is  to 
be  the  resting  place  of  Pope  Pius  IX,  we  visited  the  tomb, 
which  was  unveiled  just  a  few  days  prior  to  our  visit. 

St.  Peter-in-Chains  Church. 

St.  Peter-in-Chains  is  another  old  church,  erected 
where  Peter  was  supposed  to  be  in  prison  and  in  chains. 
The  chains  are  hanging  in  front  of  the  Altar,  and  I  saw 
a  young  devotee  go  in  and  kiss  the  chains.  It  was  to  me 
•a  very  impressive  sight  and  I  am  sure  she  went  away  a 
much  better  woman,  and  yet  while  she  was  in  this  very 


HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

act  of  devotion  our  guide  was  almost  touching-  her  ex- 
plaining- in  an  ordinary  manner  about  these  chains  and  a 
priest  was  holding  the  chains  to  the  girl's  lips,  and  I  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  religion  was  very  commercial  in 
Rome,  and  while  I  am  not  a  Roman,  yet  I  would  not  al- 
low the  mob  to  tramp  around  the  church  at  the  time  when 
people  who  are  ardent  Catholics  are  at  their  devotions. 

We  did  a  monumental  amount  of  sight-seeing  and  re- 
turned to  the  hotel  very  tired,  but  after  washing  off  the 
dust  of  the  Catacombs  from  the  outside  and  washing  down 
the  many  miraculous  stories  with  a  drink  for  the  inside 
and  a  good  dinner,  went  out  again  to  see  the  modern  city 
by  night. 

THE  POPE. 

Saturday,  Aug.  3rd.  This  was  a  busy  day;  dressed, 
took  our  carriage  and  tickets,  which  had  arrived,  and 
started  out  to  see  His  Holiness  the  Pope.  Arriving  at 
the  Palace  you  pass  a  lot  of  guards  and  are  directed  from 
one  place  to  another  until  you  are  finally  taken  hold  of 
by  one  of  the  men  in  waiting  and  finally  assigned  to  a 
particular  room.  I  am  not  sure,  but  I  think  we  were  in 
the  second  from  where  the  Pope  comes  out;  at  any  rate, 
we  were  placed  in  a  semi-circle  and  when  he  was  an- 
nounced everyone  kneels  on  the  floor  on  both  knees ;  he 
comes  in  and  extends  his  hand  to  each  one  as  he  passes 
along  and  they  kiss  his  hand  or  the  ring,  and  when  any 
one  addresses  him  he  stops  and  listens  and  replies  in  the 
language  spoken.  They  were  all  of  the  Latin  race  who 
addressed  him  in  our  room.  He  replied  in  a  word  or  two 
and  usually  put  his  hand  on  their  heads  by  way  of  a 
blessing  after  he  has  gone  around  the  room.  He  speaks 
to  all,  I  suppose  ending  with  a  blessing,  at  which  all  cross 
themselves.  It  came  upon  me  so  suddenly  that  I  was 
behind  in  doing  so,  and  I  suppose  looked  out  of  place,  but 
I  got  there  some  way. 

He  is  a  fine  looking  man  and  far  from  being  old  in  the 
physical  sense.  He  then  passes  into  the  next  room  and 
so  on  until  I  think  he  comes  to  a  general  assembly  room, 
where  a  large  part  of  the  audience  seemed  to  be  as- 
sembled. We  had  to  wait  after  his  visit  to  our  room  until 
he  had  passed  through  all  the  adjoining  rooms,  when  we 
were  conducted  back  through  the  Palace  and  out  again. 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  33 

The  regulations  prescribes  black  clothes,  usually  full 
dress  for  men  and  any  black  for  women,  they  wearing  a 
black  veil  in  addition.  We  visited  the  Sistine  Chapel 
where  the  popes  are  elected,  and  many  other  places  of 
interest.  Went  home  to  change  our  clothes  and  see  as 
much  as  possible  in  the  remaining  afternoon  and  evening. 

Rome  as  I  saw  it  was  a  revelation  in  many  things  a 
thing  to  be  long  remembered,  with  a  certain  amount  of 
respect  and  veneration,  but  not  with  an  unlimited  amount 
of  pleasure ;  to  visit  it  once  or  twice  is  worth  while ;  to 
rave  over  it  is  foolish. 

FLORENCE. 

Sunday,  Aug.  4th.  Left  the  Eternal  City  at  10:10  a. 
m.  and  arrived  at  Florence  about  3  p.  m.,  took  a  carriage 
and  drove  around  the  town  and  park,  after  we  had  rested 
up  at  the  Grand  Hotel  on  the  banks  of  the  Arno  river. 
The  weather  was  hot.  more  so  than  any  place  yet. 

Florence  is  quite  a  city  and  the  real  headquarters  in 
literature  and  art.  It  first  began  to  sit  up  and  take  notice 
about  200  B.  C.  when  it  was  under  Roman  rule,  and 
when  Rome  went  out  of  the  ruling  business,  others  offered 
their  services  as  general  managers.  First,  one  was  at  the 
bat,  then  another — plebians  and  aristrocrats.  The  13th 
and  14th  century  found  her  the  centre  of  refinement  in 
literature  and  art,  and  through  all  her  ups  and  downs, 
has  managed  to  hold  it  even  to  this  day — all  the  best  in  art 
being  hers  by  right.  In  population  about  200,000;  built 
on  the  Arno ;  celebrated  especially  for  mosaic  work  in 
marble  and  statuary  in  the  same  stone ;  has  a  very  effec- 
tive cathedral  in  marble  of  various  colors.  It  was  be- 
gun about  1296  and  finished  in  about  1462.  A  tower 
built  of  the  same  material  stands  alongside,  known  as  the 
Campanile,  begun  and  finished  a  little  earlier. 

A  baptistry  stands  across  the  Square,  a  place  where 
the  children  are  baptised;  is  also  of  the  same  character 
of  stone  and  old. 

Leaning  Tower  of  Pisa. 

It  was  during  our  visit  to  Florence  that  we  took  a 
trip  to  Pisa,  chieflly  to  see  the  leaning  tower.  We  left  at 
noon  and  found  ourselves  in  a  carriage  in  Pisa  about  2 :30 


34  HOW   I    DID    EUROPE 

p.  m. ;  drove  up  town,  saw  the  leaning  tower  close  to. 
Our  driver  and  the  book  told  us  to  go  into  a  sculptor's 
place  and  get  tickets.  I  went.  I  paid  two  francs,  and  in 
the  meantime  bought  a  model  of  the  tower  in  marble  to 
be  shipped  to  San  Francisco.  This  I  did  while  he  sent 
out  for  change. 

I  suppose  it  was  my  own  fault,  I  told  him  I  would  not 
climb  the  tower  if  he  gave  it  to  me  for  nothing  rn  account 
of  the  heat.  We  started  off  with  the  tickets,  and  upon 
presenting  them  at  the  door  were  told  they  were  no  good 
there,  only  good  for  the  cemetery.  I  thought  the  fellow 
meant  for  me  to  go  bury  my  sorrow,  so  returned  to  the 
ticket  man.  I  was  red  hot,  so  wTas  the  day.  I  wanted 
explanations.  The  ticket  man  told  me  I  did  not  get 
tickets  to  the  tower  but  the  cemetery.  So  after  seeing  as 
much  of  the  tower  at  close  quarters  as  I  wanted,  we 
wandered  over  to  the  cemetery,  and  the  man  let  us  in 
without  looking  to  see  if  we  were  really  dead.  He  took 
our  tickets  though,  I  suppose  to  show  that  we  were  legally 
there  should  any  question  arise  as  to  our  rights  in  an  Ital- 
ian cemetery.  This  is  the  result  of  my  visit. 

The  Leaning  tower  first: 

I  had  long  heard  of  it  and  seen  pictures  of  it,  and  after 
looking  at  the  real  thing  am  not  so  much  impressed  as  I 
was  before,  for  there  is  a  grave  doubt,  even  in  history,  as 
to  whether  it  was  not  built  that  way  on  purpose.  It  is 
written  that  it  was  begun  in  the  year  1174  by  one  Bon- 
anno  of  Pisa  and  finished  by  a  gentleman  by  the  name  of 
Tommaso  in  the  middle  of  the  14th  century.  That  is,  the 
last  or  eighth  story  was  put  on.  It  is  agreed  that  the 
lean  took  place  while  the  tower  wais  being  con- 
structed and  was  positively  at  its  present  lean  when  Tom- 
maso added  the  last  story.  I  am  inclined,  as  is  the  tower, 
to  believe  that  in  the  early  days  of  its  construction  some  of 
the  masons  were  not  paid  their  wages  and  filed  a  lien  on 
the  building  as  the  law  was  rather  slow  in  Pisa  about  that 
time,  it  was  allowed  to  drag  along  and  consequently  has 
never  been  straightened  out.  This  may  not  be  so,  but  I 
think  it  about  as  near  right  as  most  of  the  things  I  have 
been  hearing;  anyhow,  it  is  eight  stories  high,  has  207 
columns  and  293  steps  inside,  and  not  less  than  three  are 
allowed  to  go  to  the  last  story.  It  is  built  of  marble.  It 
is  179  feet  high  and  14  feet  out  of  plumb. 


AND    HOW   IT    DID    ME  35 

The  Cathedral. 

The  Cathedral  has  some  peculiar  things  about  it  and 
the  knights  of  St.  Stephen,  who  were  Christian  knights 
and  fought  in  the  Crusades,  a  picture  of  William  the  Lion- 
hearted  is  there  swearing  to  the  Pisians.  If  he  had  been 
there  the  day  I  was  he  would  be  swearing  at  them  as  I 
was. 

The  Cemetery  of  Pisa. 

The  Camposanto,  or  cemetery,  is  also  a  wonder.  It  is 
related  that  those  Pisans  in  the  year  3192  brought  over 
from  Jerusalem  53  galleys  of  earth  to  start  this  graveyard 
of  their  own,  and  a  peculiarity  attached  to  the  soil  was 
that  it  decomposed  and  consumed  a  body  in  24  hours,  and 
is  said  to  represent  the  triumph  of  death  by  the  three  dead 
bodies  in  Orgagnas  Putrefaction,  decomposition  and  final 
reduction  to  dust.  The  two  inscriptions  on  the  outside 
are,  1st:  "Those  of  the  faithful  buried  in  this  place  will 
be  saved/'  The  other  reads:  "Thou  who  passeth  look, 
pause  and  think  what  thou  art,  for  all  must  finally  come 
to  this  abode.  Whoever  thou  art,  stop,  read,  weep!  I 
am  what  thou  wilt  be !  I  was  what  thou  art!  For  God's 
sake  pray  for  me!" 

Many  old  tablets  and  funeral  urns  are  here.  It  is  an 
oblong  square,  with  an  open  space  in  the  middle  for  the 
everyday  people.  It  is  135  metres  long  and  43  wide  and 
15  high.  It  has  43  inclosed  arches  on  44  pillars  and  the 
capitals  of  each  column  has  a  sculptured  figure.  Many 
old  paintings  are  on  the  walls  by  so-called  old  masters, 
but  I  hesitate  to  pass  judgment  as  they  are  pretty  badly 
worn;  anyhow,  I  hope  I  won't  try  for  a  corner  in  ceme- 
teries for  some  time ;  still,  should  anything  happen,  I  want 
to  take  longer  than  they  allow  to  decompose  myself.  I 
looked  at  the  time,  found  I  still  retained  my  watch  and 
return  ticket,  and  bidding  goodbye  to  Pisa's  live  adt,  the 
tower  with  a  lean  on  it,  the  church  and  graveyard  with 
their  dead  issues,  I  returned  to  Florence,  took  a  drink 
and  tried  to  see  things  straight. 

VENICE. 

August     6th.     In    the     afternoon    we    left    Florence 


36  HOW  I   DID   EUROPE 

for  the  city  that  needs  no  watering  carts  and  arrived 
about  10 :30.  We  were  met  at  the  station  by  all  the  hotel 
runners,  and  having  previously  decided  on  the  Grand 
Danieli,  we  were  invited  to  step  into  the  water  wagon. 
We  soon  started  up  the  main  sewer  or  street  and  made 
many  turns,  from  wide  canals  to  small  ones  and  from 
those  to  smaller,  until  we  thought  the  Hackdelier  was 
trying  to  drive  us  up  a  back  alley,  scuttle  the  hackboat 
and  drown  us  in  the  rubbish  water.  After  about  an  hour 
of  this  we  arrived  at  the  hotel  and  were  shown  to  our 
quarters;  very  good,  all  satisfactory;  large  room,  too 
much  cumbersome  furniture.  This  used  to  be  one  of  the 
old  Doges  Palaces,  and  I  suppose  it  got  the  name  from 
him  dodging  the  furniture.  It  was  the  cause  of  my  down- 
fall more  than  once.  1  am  no  doger. 

August  7th.  Got  up  early,  turned  on  the  street  into* 
the  bath  tub,  and  after  rolling  around  in  the  gutter,  so 
to  speak,  felt  much  refreshed.  Had  breakfast  and  thought 
I  would  row  out  for  a  stroll,  but  I  was  agreeably  surprised 
when  I  learned  that  by  going  out  and  turning  to  the  right 
and  walking  a  block  I  would  be  at  St.  Mark's  Square. 
Now  since  I  have  found  out  that  I  can  walk,  I  have  since 
found  out  some  other  things,  and  while  they  are  fresh  in 
my  mind  I  will  put  them  down. 

It  seems  in  early  days  that  people  were  looking: 
around  for  a  quiet  place  to  get  away  from  the  general 
scrapping,  then  the  regular  occupation  of  the  human  fami- 
ly, and  to  get  out  of  the  way,  got  into  this  mud  place 
where  they  could  not  be  bothered  much.  Others  came 
and  in  course  of  time  we  find  Venice  not  what  she  has 
been,  or  is,  but  a  mud  nucleus.  It  is  unnecessary  to  fol- 
low her  through  her  struggles  and  her  triumphs  and  her 
downfall. 

Venice  is  situated  on  the  northwest  coast  of  the  Ad- 
riatic, about  2%  miles  from  shore  on  or  in  a  logune  or 
Lagoon,  seperated  from  the  sea  proper  by  low  sand  banks. 
It  consists  of  118  islands,  joined  by  450  footbridges  and 
divided  into  two  parts  by  the  Grand  Canal  4153  yards 
long.  It  is  the  Capital  of  its  Province,  has  a  tide  of  2% 
feet,  has  a  popluation  which  is  fluctuating.  Call  it  130,- 
000  straight.  It  is  built  on  piles,  has  150  canals,  but  you 
can  walk  all  over  it  without  getting  very  wet. 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  37 

St.  Mark's  Church. 

In  829  some  fishermen  took  the  liberty  of  stealing  the 
body  of  St.  Mark  from  Alexandria  and  brought  it  home 
with  them,  and  the  population  not  knowing  what  to  do 
with  it,  held  a  meeting  in  the  town  hall  I  suopose.  A 
citizen  from  the  12th  ward,  whose  name  has  been  forgot- 
ten, was  called  to  the  chair  and  it  was  decided  that  in  or- 
der to  accomplish  anything,  it  was  first  in  order  to  adopt 
resolutions.  The  motion  was  carried  and  it  was  resolved 
that  Mark  should  be  the  Patron  Saint  of  Venice,  and 
be  it  further  resolved  that  a  church  be  built  to  his  mem- 
ory and  his  sacred  bones  be  entombed  in  the  same.  In 
830  the  pile  foundation-stone  was  laid  and  the  building 
of  the  church  was  launched.  It  has  500  columns  of  por- 
phyry, verde  antique,  Serpentine,  red  marble,  granite  and 
basalt.  It  was  completed  in  the  12th  century,  but  like  all 
other  churches,  has  been  restored  more  or  less  ever  since ; 
still  it  is  a  wonderful  thing. 

I  was  just  about  to  enter,  when  a  gentleman  who 
iniuht  have  been  present  at  the  first  meeting  when  they 
decided  to  build,  stepped  up  and  told  me  he  was  the  guide, 
and  that  he  would  do  the  job  for  a  franc.  I  annexed  him 
to  my  pay  roll  and  told  him  to  get  off  his  coat  and  get 
busy.  He  told  me  more  about  the  foundation  of  the 
church  than  would  describe  the  foundation  of  the  uni- 
verse, showed  me  the  beautiful  columns;  the  Pope's  chair; 
the  chair  occupied  by  the  present  Pope  who  was  the 
Bishop  here  before  he  was  elected  Pope;  the  beautiful 
paintings,  bronzes  and  marbles,  mosaics  and  woodwork, 
mostly  captured  or  stolen,  as  was  St.  Mark's  body,  for  in 
those  days  all  plunder  of  great  value  was  given  to  the 
church. 

After  getting  to  the  outer  door  I  wanted  a  glass  of 
beer  for  the  place  was  warm.  He  showed  me  the  way. 
My  wife  looked  at  a  lace  window  and  the  guide  had  her 
inside  in  a  minute  and  the  whole  tribe  were  trying  to  sell 
her  lace.  I  reminded  this  self-appointed  guide  that  it  was 
beer  I  wanted  and  they  offered  to  have  beer  brought  into 
the  work  place  where  the  girls  were  embroidering.  I  got 
my  beer,  so  did  my  old  guide.  We  saw  a  mosaic  window 
and  he  told  us  he  would  take  us  to  the  factory.  Well  we 
went;  he  showed  us  in;  the  boss  took  charge  of  us  and 
took  us  through  and  we  saw  the  whole  process,  which  was 


38  HOW   I   DID   EUROPE 

very  interesting.  When  we  came  out  our  old  guide  was 
sitting  on  the  steps  still  in  my  employ.  I  adjusted  mat- 
ters without  strike  or  arbitration.  He  still  thinks  he  is 
working  for  me,  for  during  my  stay  every  time  he  saw 
me  he  would  raise  his  hat  and  be  ready  for  active  service. 

The  Doge  Palace, 

The  Doge  Palace  next  attracted  our  attention.  The 
first  Doge  Palace  was  ordered  built  in  809.  This  run 
along  and  answered  all  purposes  until  after  fights  about 
who  should  Doge  the  country,  they  burned  up  the  Palace 
to  get  rid  of  the  Doge.  In  the  fire  he  attempted  to 
escape  through  the  church  and  the  conspirators  didn  't  do 
a  thing  to  him.  He  was  buried  soon  after.  A  new  Doye 
put  the  old  Palace  in  repair  at  his  own  expense  as  he  was 
in  on  the  fire  committee  that  burned  it  down.  The 
Palace  was  added  to  for  centuries  until  1422  the  Council 
voted  for  a  new  Palace,  and  the  present  one  was  begun  in 
1424.  Both  wings  of  the  Palace  were  destroyed  by  fire  in 
1577,  but  were  immediately  restored.  In  going  through 
the  Palace,  I  was  deeply  impressed  with  all  I  saw,  heard 
and  read. 

The  Council. 

I  cannot  put  it  all  down  here  and  I  will  forget  what  I 
don't  put  down,  but  some  of  it  is  just  as  well  left  out. 
There  seems  to  have  been  a  great  deal  of  grafting  going 
on  in  Venice,  and  traitors  were  on  every  croner ;  so  in  1310 
a  Council  of  10  were  elected  to  take  a  hand  in  affairs  and 
try  people  charged  with  special  crimes,  such  as  traitors, 
false  coiners  and  sodomites.  The  Council  also  had  a 
general  supervision  over  secret  societies  and  ceremonies. 
At  this  court  a  prisoner  could  not  be  defended  by  any  of 
his  connections,  but  the  court  appointed  two  who  should 
defend  him,  as  we  have  in  our  courts  at  the  present  time 
when  a  prisoner  cannot  have  an  attorney. 

This  Council,  at  its  monthly  meetings,  elected  a  coun- 
cil of  three  who  served  for  one  month  and  who  received 
charges  against  traitors,  etc.,  by  communications  placed  in 
a  box  in  the  wall,  and  it  took  two  of  the  three  to  open 
the  box,  although  the  three  were  generally  present,  but 
two  keys  were  necssary  to  open  the  box.  They  reported 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  39 

to  the  ten  and  what  they  said  was  generally  a  "go",  as 
they  called  the  10  together  when  they  thought  they  had 
some  one  up  a  tree. 

The  guide  told  us  that  when  a  person  was  accused 
and  found  guilty  by  the  council  it  was  generally  Sikh,  a 
sound  he  made  with  his  tongue,  a  movement  with  his  fin- 
ger across  the  neck  and  a  smile  on  his  face,  as  if  he  was 
one  of  the  Council  of  three. 

Lido  and  Murano. 

Venice  by  itself  would  soon  make  you  tired  or  broke, 
or  both,  but  a  bathing  place  called  Lido  attracts  the  gen- 
eral attention.  It  is  a  few  miles  across  from  the  town  of 
Venice  where  a  fine  hotel  is  erected,  and  a  good  bathing 
place  afforded.  I  went  there,  came  back  and  sought  my 
bath  tub;  it  is  more  modest.  Another  place  is  Murano, 
the  place  where  they  manufacture  the  Venetian  glass. 
We  called  there.  They  made  all  sorts  of  things  from 
roses  to  cauliflowers  for  our  benefit  or  theirs.  I  don't 
remember  which,  for  I  gave  the  workman  three  franc 
and  carried  nothing  away  but  a  memory. 

The  Gondolas. 

The  gondola  is  a  cross  between  a  Chinese  shrimp 
boat  and  an  Indian  canoe.  It  is  painted  black  because 
the  gondola,  in  the  16th  century,  was  a  gaudy  swan-like 
affair  in  which  the  lovesick  swain  wandered  up  and  down 
the  water  front  singing  tra  la  la  to  his  or  the  other  fellow's 
inamorata,  until  he  became  a  nuisance  and  some  crusty  old 
doge,  to  put  a  stop  to  this,  decreed  that  all  gondolas 
should  hereafter  be  put  in  mourning  and  the  old  law  still 
stands;  hence  the  reason  for  all  gondolas  in  Venice  being 
painted  black.  This  was  done  to  stop  the  young  fellows 
from  painting  the  town  red. 

I  could  say  more  about  Venice,  but  it  would  be  cruel. 
This  I  will  say,  take  away  her  history  and  give  me  any  old 
stream  like  the  Alameda  Creek,  cut  a  few  cross  sections, 
drive  a  few  piles  in  the  mud  and  I  will  in  ten  years  leave 
Venice  in  the  shade  in  everything  except  mosquitoes,  fak- 
ers and  grafters. 

Venice  is  worth  a  visit.  It  does  one  good  to  visit  St. 
Mark's  Square  and  help  feed  the  pigeons — thousands  of 


40  HOW    I    DID    EUKOPE 

them  there.  You  buy  ten  centimes  of  corn  and  they  will 
flock  around  you,  alight  on  your  hand  and  head  and  eat 
out  of  your  hand  like  a  real  Italian. 

Venice,  goodbye!  I  have  tried  your  gondolas  of  the 
12th  century,  manipulated  by  your  20th  century  gondolier, 
and  he  is  not  a  thing  of  beauty;  I  have  tried  your  20th 
century  gasoline  launch.  I  prefer  it.  I  have  bought  your 
wares  and  paid  your  price.  I  would  not  have  missed  see- 
ing you,  but  having  seen  you,  I  would  not  have  missed 
seeing  you,  had  I  not  seen  you. 

Leaving  Venice  Under  Difficulties. 

Friday,  Aug.  9th.  This  was  a  bad  day.  Was  awak- 
ened by  my  wife  who  had  gotten  up  before  five  o  'clock  to 
have  her  bath  as  we  had  to  leave  about  6:10.  It  seems 
when  she  turned  on  the  hot  water  the  plug  came  out  and 
the  hot  water  flooded  the  floor.  I  tried  to  stop  it  and 
could  not  and  after  putting  a  lot  of  towels  over  it  to  keep 
it  from  spurting,  rang  for  the  night  clerk.  No  response. 
I  rang  again,  and  after  waiting,  put  on  a  gown  and  started 
down  stairs  to  find  him.  I  met  him  on  the  stairs  and  be- 
fore I  could  tell  the  idiot  what  was  wrong,  he  told  me  in 
his  own  English  that  it  was  no  use  to  ring,  that  it  was  too 
early.  I  got  him  up  however  and  when  I  showed  him 
what  was  the  matter,  he  said  he  could  not  do  it  as  it  would 
require  a  special  man.  I  finally  convinced  him  that  I  was 
not  a  special  man  and  got  him  awake  to  the  fact  that  he 
must  move  if  he  did  not  want  the  hotel  to  become  a  new 
canal.  He  got  it  fixed  after  a  time,  and  then  came  to 
talk  to  me.  I  slammed  the  door  in  his  face  and  would 
not  talk  to  him.  I  told  the  proprietor  I  would  have  a  law 
suit  with  him  over  the  affair,  but  we  finally  calmed  down 
after  breakfast  as  I  was  anxious  to  get  off.  Our  gondo- 
liers glided  up  to  the  landing  at  the  hotel.  The  help 
were  all  up  early  as  it  was,  as  they  knew  it  was  pay-day, 
so  after  settling  with  everybody  in  sight,  we  shoved  off, 
and  in  course  of  about  an  hour  arrived  at  the  depot  and 
after  settling  with  the  pirates  and  paying  the  fellows  that 
carry  your  traps  into  the  train,  got  comfortably  seated. 

We  had  met  at  Venice  two  of  our  ship  passengers,  or 
rather  travelled  to  Venice  together  and  were  in  the  same 
carriage  leaving.  We  were  in  the  same  compartment. 
The  train  had  started.  A  boy  on  the  platform 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  41 

was  selling  the  N.  Y.  "Herald."  I  stepped  to  the  window 
to  get  a  paper  and  when  I  looked  around  I  found  a  gentle- 
man from  the  water  front  of  Italy  in  my  seat.  J  spoke 
to  him  in  English,  explaining  that  was  my  seat.  He  re- 
plied in  sign  language  and  Italian  that  I  had  not  left  my 
cap  in  the  seat.  I  pointed  to  my  hand-baggage  above  the 
seat,  but  he  did  not  move.  I  tried  ,to  tell  him  that  I  must 
have  that  seat  and  he  could  have  one  alongside  of  me,  but 
he  sat  still.  I  could  see  no  way  of  getting  my  seat  by 
talking  so  I  grabbed  him  bodily  and  put  him  out  into  the 
corridor  and  sat  down  in  the  seat. 

In  an  instant  I  had  all  Italy  around.  He  explained 
it  all  to  the  crowd  and  such  a  jabbering  as  ensued  would 
li'iid  one  to  believe  that  black  hand  and  the  Mafia  were  in 
joint  convention.  One  of  the  delegation  tried  to  speak 
Knulish  to  me,  but  I  could  not  make  it  out.  They  crowd- 
ed the  door  and  argued  among  themselves  what  mode  of 
death  I  should  be  put  to.  The  ticket  man  came  along. 
He  heard  their  story  I  suppose,  got  my  ticket  ,said  some 
words  to  them  and  passed  on.  Then  they  got  the  man 
who  is  chief  of  the  train.  He  examined  my  ticket,  then 
came  back  MTK]  demanded  my  passport.  I  got  it  out.  The 
conductor  and  the  bunch  crowded  around  and  I  could 
make  out  from  their  talk  that  my  name  was  Jocum  and  1 
was  Washington.  I  got  my  papers  back,  but  at  the  first 
stop  the  gentleman  called  one  of  the  soldiers  and  brought 
him  in,  explained,  I  suppose,  and  wanted  me  arrested. 
The  soldier  listened,  shook  his  head  and  got  off;  the  crowd 
still  stood  in  the  passage-way,  and  I  suppose  quoted  inter- 
national law,  but  at  the  next  station  got  off,  not  however 
before  t^ing  to  get  my  name  and  address,  which  I  would 
not  give.  I  expected  to  be  arrested  at  Milan,  but  arived 
at  the  hotel  safely  and  the  incident  was  closed. 

Had  lunch  at  the  Grand  Hotel  de  Milan,  got  a  carriage 
and  as  we  were  starting  off  for  an  informal  look  at  the 
place  (our  usual  custom)  a  gentleman  with  a  Cockney  ac- 
cent stepped  up  and  announced  himself  as  the  "hofficial 
iruide,  hand  hinterpreter  hof  the  otel."  He  was  engaged 
at  once  and  turned  our  informal  drive  into  one  of  in- 
spection. This  Italian  learned  his  English  from  a 
Cockney  and  was  very  amusing. 

Basilica  of  St,  Ambrogio. 

We  first  went  to  the  Basilica  of  St.  Ambrogio,  the  pa- 


42  HOW   I   DID   EUROPE 

tron  saint  of  Milan.  I  find  no  town  in  a  Latin  country 
can  get  along  without  a  patron  saint,  even  if  they  have  to 
steal  one,  as  did  the  people  of  Venice.  Well  Ambrogio 
was  built  in  the  4th  century  on  the  site  of  a  Pagan  temple 
and  many  of  the  symbols  of  paganism  are  to  be  found  in 
the  walls  and  a  stone  altar,  where  the  vestal  vergins 
kept  up  a  perpetual  light,  is  in  a  good  state  of  preser- 
vation. The  object  most  worthy  of  note  in  the  Basilica  is 
the  original  painting  of  the  last  supper,  painted  on  the 
wall  by  Leonardo  de  Vinci  in  1499,  some  of  his  followers 
in  his  school  of  painting  have  painted  copies  on  adjoin- 
ing walls  to  illustrate  the  detail  of  the  picture  that  time 
has  to  some  extent  obliterated.  It  is  said  that  all  last 
suppers  are  copied  from  this  work,  no  matter  who  the 
painter  may  be. 

Royal  Scala  Theatre. 

We  visited  part  of  the  old  walls  of  the  city  much  like 
others  of  similar  towns.  Then  to  the  Royal  Scala  The- 
atre, the  largest  in  Milan  and  perhaps  the  most  celebrat- 
ed in  the  world.  It  has  a  seating  capacity  of  3600,  a 
wonderful  echo  in  the  audience  part,  but  cannot  be  heard 
on  the  stage.  It  has  200  boxes  and  a  fine  dressing  room 
for  each  box ;  in  fact  the  place  looks  to  be,  and  indeed  is, 
all  boxes  except  the  ground  floor.  A  person  having  once 
appeaded  on  this  stage  in  a  principal  role  has  an  assured 
future  in  opera.  The  stage  is  immense  and  slopes  from 
rear  to  front,  and  is  large  enough  to  put  any  ordinary 
theatre  on  and  then  have  room  for  the  actors.  We 
visited  all  parts  of  the  house,  the  scene  painters  were 
busy  getting  ready  for  the  coming  season.  I  had  a  drink 
of  their  foot  juice  with  them.  In  the  vestibule  are  sta- 
tues of  ancient  and  modern  masters  in  music. 

Cathedral  of  Milan  or  Church  of  the  Nail. 

Next  to  the  greatest  sight  in  this  city  is  the  Cathedral 
of  Milan.  It  is  by  far  the  most  wonderful  of  any  I  have 
seen  yet,  as  far  as  character  and  beauty  is  concerned. 
It  was  commenced  in  1396  and  was  intended  to  be  pure 
Gothic,  but  so  many  different  architects  had  to  do  with 
it  from  its  beginning  till  its  completion,  and  so  much 
time  elapsed  when  war  and  other  troubles  caused  a 


AND    HOW   IT    DID    ME  43 

cessation  of  the  work  altogether,  that  to  some  extent  the 
first  idea  was  not  carried  out.  Nevertheless  it  is  a 
wonder.  On  the  outside  there  are  over  4200  statues  all 
carved  out  of  white  marble  of  which  the  entire  building 
is  constructed.  The  interior  is  supported  on  52  large 
pillars  or  columns  of  marble,  and  when  viewed  from  one 
particular  point,  nothing  but  columns  greet  the  eye,  and 
yet  when  between  the  rows  of  columns  there  is  immense 
space. 

It  is  known  as  the  Church  of  the  Nail  because  of 
its  claim  to  have  one  of  the  original  nails  from  the  cross; 
it  is  in  a  casket  away  upon  the  roof  above  the  altar,  and 
is  brought  down  every  year  for  exhibition  and  venera- 
tion. The  objects  most  admired  and  prized  by  this 
church  are  the  marble  statues  of  St.  Bartholemew  being 
flayed  alive  and  carrying  his  own  skin  on  his  shoulders. 
The  bronze  chandelier  in  the  form  of  a  tree  with  its  seven 
branches  or  places  for  candles  all  in  line  yet  each  one  can 
be  turned  out  at  angles.  The  mosaics  and  stained  windows 
representing  scenes  from  the  old  and  new  testament.  In 
the  crypt  lie  the  remains  of  St.  Ambrose  and  other  dis- 
tinguished Christians.  To  get  a  close  "look  at  the 
saint  you  must  pay  five  francs.  I  had  no  desire  to  go 
below  at  the  price  so  I  cannot  truthfully  say  if  the  re- 
mains are  the  sure  enough  saints  or  not.  There  are  500 
steps  leading  to  the  tower  which  you  can  climb  for  50 
centimes  but  this  was  my  busy  day  on  the  level  so  I  did 
not  climb.  I  am  sure  the  view  would  repay  anyone  with 
a  burning  desire  for  exercise,  but  I  am  possessed  of  that 
tired  feeling  between  meals  that  forbids  such  violent 
effort.  The  guide  assured  me  it  would  repay  me.  I 
added  another  franc  to  his  salary  and  took  his  word  for 
it.  I  have  not  seen  the  ends  of  the  earth  so  will  say  noth- 
ing rash,  but  I  will  say  to  the  Cathedral  of  Milan,  stay 
right  there,  you'll  do  every  day  in  the  week  and  twice  on 
Sunday. 

Right  across  from  the  Cathedral  is  the  Palace  of  the 
King,  a  fine  place  also,  parts  of  it  are  open  for  inspection 
but  on  learning  that  the  King  was  not  at  home  we  omitt- 
ed calling. 

Many  large  buildings  of  a  public  character  are  in  evi- 
dence, we  visited  some  but  as  they  are  to  be  found  in 


41  HOW   I    DID    EUROPE 

most  other  places  I  omit  them. 

One  feature  of  Milan  is  the  number  of  automobiles  to 
be  found,  you  would  almost  fall  over  them  they  are  so 
plentiful,  still  it  is  better  not  to.  We  hired  one  in  the 
evening,  they  charge  lay  taximetre,  you  go  so  far  and  the 
machines  tells  you,  it  is  the  cheapest  motoring  I  ever  did. 
I  understand  the  Motor  Club  at  Milan  does  more  for 
motoring  and  good  roads  than  any  other  institution  in 
Italy. 

So  much  for  the  individual  buildings  and  things;  now 
few  words  about  Milan  itself. 

It  is  the  capital  of  Lombardo,  with  a  present  population 
of  about  550,000;  it  seems  to  have  had  great  ups  and 
downs.  It  was  very  prosperous  under  the  Romans,  hav- 
ing a  population  of  300,000.  In  the  llth  century  and 
then  in  the  12th  century  it  was  knocked  galley  west, 
only  a  few  churches  and  buildings  of  that  character  re- 
maining standing,  its  statues  and  monuments  being  even 
carried  away  or  broken  down.  Milan  at  the  present 
time  is  prosperous,  quite  a  place  for  sculpture,  silk  etc., 
clean  a"hd  well  worth  the  time  spent  in  viewing  the  many 
works  of  nature  and  art  she  has  to  attract  attention. 

In  leaving  Milan  we  said  goodbye  to  Italy,  and  per- 
haps we  might  (lest  we  forget)  say  that  I  think  Italy  has 
a  wonderful  past,  a  great  number  of  relics  to  be  admired 
and  venerated;  she  has  a  present,  largely  consisting 
of  grand  opera  singers,  scenery  fakers  and  beggars. 
I  have  heard  for  truth  that  America  manufactured 
pretty  near  all  the  old  images  and  furniture  sold  in 
Italy,  but  surely  no  one  would  accuse  them  of  manufact- 
uring the  cripples  and  beggars.  All  beggars  are  not 
cripples  but  all  cripples  are  beggars  in  Italy.  A  large 
part  of  the  population  are  very  nice  gentlemen,  but  this 
is  the  season  of  the  year  when  they  travel  abroad. 

GENEVA 

Saturday,  10th. — Left  Milan  at  7 :10  a.  m.  spent  a  num- 
ber of  hours  travelling  through  beautiful  and  rugged 
mountains,  quaint  villages,  isolated  communities  and 
solitary  abodes,  over  ravines  and  passes,  through  tunnels 
and  gorges,  one  surprise  after  another  of  scenery,  the 
work  of  nature  and  man  combined,  including  the  Simp- 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  45 

Ion  pass.  We  arrived  at  Geneva,  the  home  of  the  watch, 
a  pretty  town  on  the  lake.  It  has  a  present  population 
of  about  110,000.  It  seems  it  was  conquered  by  the 
Romans  122  B.  C.  and  was  the  possession  of  France  and 
other  countries.  Independent  at  times,  and  when  not 
busy  abroad  certain  families  took  a  whack  at  each  other. 

In  1335  Geneva  adopted  the  reformation  on  the  sug- 
gestion or  preaching  of  one  Farel,  and  the  bishop  who 
owned  the  town  at  that  time  was  chased  away  and  its  in- 
dependence proclaimed.  In  1536  Calvin  arrived  and 
stirred  things  up,  or  rather  toned  things  down,  and  a 
strict  moral  life  was  necessary  to  get  along,  and  it  ap- 
pears that  a  Spaniard  named  Michel  Servet  was  burned 
;it  the  stake  in  1555  for  writings  questioning  the  Divinity 
of  Christ.  Geneva  at  the  present  time  is  about  equally 
divided  between  Protestants  and  Catholics,  but  it  seems 
the  Protestant  Church  gets  aid  from  the  Canton,  or  State. 

Geneva  is  celebrated  for  its  watchmaking  and  optical 
goods,  its  musical  boxes  of  all  kinds  and  its  fine  view  of 
Mont  Blanc.  The  river  Rhone  furnishes  water  power  for 
nearly  all  industries  around.  The  streets  are  good  and 
well  paved  with  wooden  block  or  stone,  (generally 
stone)  in  oblong  slabs. 

I  visited  one  of  the  oldest  watch  factories  in  the  town 
an'l  was  taken  all  through.  It  was  interesting  but  it 
looked  more  like  a  private  concern  than  an  important 
factory.  This  firm  has  been  here  in  this  building  since 
the  18th  century. 

Geneva  has  its  Museum,  its  houses  of  historic  fame, 
among  them  being  No.  11  Rue  Calvin  where  this  reformer 
is  said  to  have  died.  It  is  a  Canton  of  the  republic  of 
Switzerland ;  it  makes  its  own  laws,  etc.  You  are  not 
bothered  by  beggars  nor  importuned  by  fakirs  to  buy 
something  you  don't  want.  Take  it  altogether  Geneva 
leaves  a  very  pleasant  taste  in  the  mouth,  after  so  much 
garlic. 

LUCERNE. 

Aug.  13th. — Left  Geneva  and  travelled  through  pretty 
picturesque  Switzerland  from  9  :30  till  about  three  in  the 
afternoon  when  we  arrived  in  the  heart  of  that  mountain- 
ous country. 

Lucerne  is  the  most  pleasantly  situated  of  any  place  we 


46  HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

have  visited  yet.  At  the  end  of  the  St.  Gothard  Tunnel 
and  on  the  banks  of  the  Reuss  River  surrounded  on  all 
sides  by  the  Alps,  a  prettier  spot  could  not  be  described. 
When  we  arrived  it  was  the  height  of  the  season ;  we  drove 
to  the  National  Hotel  but  found  that  we  could  not  get  ac- 
commodated, we  then  drove  to  the  Hotel  D 'Europe  and 
after  waiting  a  few  minutes,  we  got  a  room.  We  ordered 
a  carriage  for  our  preliminary  survey  of  the  town,  and 
visited  the  celebrated  lion  of  Lucerne.  This  monument 
is  the  masterpiece  of  Thorwalden,  the  sculpturing  was 
done  by  Abhorn;  it  is  cut  out  of  a  rock  60  feet  high 
straight  up,  a  recess  was  cut  out  of  this  face  and  in  the 
lower  part  was  cut  in  bold  relief  the  wounded  lion  still 
watching  and  guarding,  it  was  sculptured  in  1821  to  com- 
memorate the  slaying  of  the  Swiss  Guard  that  used  to  be 
maintained  by  the  French  Kings  at  Lucerne  and  who 
wrere  slain  by  the  Jacobins  in  1792  upon  the  approach 
of  the  Austrian  Prussian  army  to  support  the  King. 
Under  the  lion  is  a  small  sheet  of  water  and  at  night 
when  the  face  of  the  cliff  is  lit  up  by  electric  light  the 
reflection  of  the  cliff  and  the  lion  is  very  attractive. 

The  lion  of  Lucerne  is  on  everything  in  wood  and 
silver;  wood  carving  is  the  great  thing  here.  This  is  the 
home  of  the  little  cuckoo  clocks  and  all  other  things  of 
that  character.  This  also  is  the  home  of  William  Tell  and 
the  place  where  he  escaped  from  the  boat  in  which  Gessler 
was  conveying  him  to  prison.  The  monument  erected  on 
the  place  is  called  Tellsplatte,  and  a  chapel  containing 
pictures  and  paintings  of  Tell  are  here  preserved.  A  pro- 
cession goes  to  this  place  every  year  composed  of  the  coun- 
try people  who  go  as  a  matter  of  solemn  duty  to  the  mem- 
ory of  that  distinnguished  advocate  of  liberty. 

A  glacier  garden  close  to  the  lion  is  quite  a  curio.  It 
stands  on  the  site  of  a  former  glacier  and  it  has  large  cal- 
drons or  holes  in  the  solid  rock  in  which  the  large  boulders 
that  made  them  are  lying  in  the  bottom. 

The  theory  of  the  glacier  garden  is  that  these  boulders 
falling  from  greater  heights  on  the  glacier  gradually 
worked  their  way  through  the  ice  water  following  until 
they  reached  the  bed  rock  on  which  the  glacier  rested. 
The  water  following  and  churning  around.  Anyhow  there 
they  are.  A  great  many  other  things  are  in  this  garden,  a 
bas  relief  map  of  Switzerland,  showing  its  mountains,  and 


*  AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  47 

valleys  and  depicting  some  of  its  battles,  and  close  to  a 
panorama  of  merit  said  to  be  the  masterpiece  of  M.  Castres 
of  Genova,  an  artist  noted  for  his  painting  of  battle  scenes, 
showing  the  retreat  of  General  Bourbahis  army  into 
Switzerland  in  1871. 

Then  there  is  the  Lucerne  lake  or,  as  it  is  sometimes 
called,  the  lake  of  the  four  Cantons,  a  beautiful  sheet  of 
water  at  the  foot  of  all  the  large  mountains  some  23  miles 
long  and  irregular,  but  the  scenery  on  its  shores  is  cer- 
tainly grand.  The  town  itself  is  well  built,  has  one  or  two 
large  streets,  some  fine  blocks  running  at  right  angles 
with  the  main  thoroughfares,  and  many  quaint  old  and 
narrow  streets  which  give  it  a  different  appearance  from 
any  town  I  have  ever  seen,  some  of  the  little  old  beer 
houses  put  one  in  mind  of  the  old  inns  of  England, 
though  different.  It  has,  or  claims,  a  population  of  31,000. 
Its  authentic  history  begins  when  in  735  a  saint  of  the 
name  of  Swdegar  founded  a  convent  and  from  that 
time  it  was  on  the  map.  It  seems  to  have  had  its 
little  troubles,  and  consequent  ups  and  downs  till  1332 
when  it  joined  the  Confederacy  and  became  a  Canton 
of  the  Swiss  Republic.  So  much  for  its  history. 

Mount  Pilatus. 

The  following  morning  after  our  arrival  we  started  out 
on  a  trip  to  the  top  of  Mount  Pilatus  and  a  more  enjoyable 
one  I  never  took.  There  are  two  ways  of  starting,  we 
went  by  the  lake  to  Alpnachstad,  whence  we  took  the  train, 
consisting  of  a  car  and  an  engine.  The  engine  goes  be- 
hind the  car  and  pushes  it  up,  and  ahead  of  it  coming 
down.  The  grade  runs  from  19-64  with  an  average  of 
38^.  The  length  is  5040  yards  with  an  ascent  of  5528 
feet.  It  takes  one  hour  and  25  minutes  to  accomplish 
the  trip,  but  it  is  85  minutes  of  life,  for  the  scene  changes 
every  one  of  the  minutes  many  times,  over  chasms  through 
tunnels,  along  cuts  in  the  mountain  side,  winding  around, 
exposing  a  valley  below  here  and  a  lake  the  next  minute 
there,  until  you  get  up  so  high  that  the  snow-clad  moun- 
tains you  were  admiring  from  Lucerne  are  now  an  uneven 
low  land,  but  looking  all  the  more  beautiful  because  of 
the  more  extended  view  of  their  surface. 

Promptly  at  the  time  announced  in  the  time  table  you 


43  HOW   I   DID    EUKOPE       • 

come  to  a  full  stop  at  the  end  of  this  very  scenic  road.  A 
walk  of  a  few  minutes  brings  you  to  the  Pilatus  Kulm  or 
hotel  where  a  good  meal  is  served  and  where  you  can  re- 
main over  night  having  all  hotel  accommodations.  This 
is  done  for  tourists  who  desire  to  remain  for  sunset  and 
sunrise. 

After  lunch  we  went  out  and  took  in  the  different  points 
of  view ;  our  glasses  in  this  case  came  in  very  handy.  The 
clouds  would  for  a  minute  obscure  some  panorama  away 
down  in  the  valley  or  across  on  the  mountain,  and  then 
float  away  leaving  it  clear  and  bright,  and  each  point  of 
view  seemed  prettier  than  the  last. 

We  remained  a  few  hours,  and  the  announcement  that 
it  was  time  to  go  brought  us  again  to  earth,  or  at  least 
informed  us  that  we  must  again  get  down  on  the  level 
with  other  people. 

The  trip  down  was  an  encore  of  the  trip  upward,  and 
sometimes  the  encore  is  better  than  the  original  song  that 
inspired  the  encore.  At  any  rate  we  got  down  from  our 
high  horse  in  the  same  time  that  it  took  to  mount  it, 
caught  the  boat  and  arrived  home  safe  at  the  hotel  well 
pleased,  but  so  tired  that  we  had  our  dinner  sent  to  the 
room  rather  than  dress  and  go  down  stairs. 

BALE. 

Friday,  Aug.  16th. — Arrived  in  Bale,  a  town  in  Switzer- 
land, close  to  the  border  of  Germany,  France  and  Italy,  8 
hours  from  Paris,  15  from  London,  14%  Berlin,  11  Ant- 
werp and  15  Hamburg.  It  has  a  population  of  125,000  and 
seems  pretty  well  up  to  date.  Our  hotel  was  all  that 
could  be  desired.  The  Rhine  is  close  by,  so  we  took  a  car- 
riage and  drove  over  it  by  one  of  the  old  bridges  and 
back  by  the  new  one  that  is  just  finished  (a  splendid 
affair) ,  visited  the  church  which  was  being  restored, 
paying  for  admission  and  the  privilege  of  looking  up  at 
the  ceiling  where  the  workmen  were  employed,  and  the 
chance  of  breaking  your  neck  while  so  doing  by  falling 
over  a  lot  of  litter  on  the  floor.  We  made  our  escape, 
blessing  ourselves  the  while,  saw  and  visited  the  usual 
number  of  things  sacred  and  profane.  The  sacred  are 


Ai\TD    HOW    IT    DID    ME  49 

getting  largely  smaller  ?nd  the  profane  not  growing 
wonderfully  less. 

We  spent  a  pleasant  enough  time  in  Bale  and  remember 
it  kindly.  It  is  a  great  in  and  out  town,  trains  coming 
and  going  every  minute  of  the  day.  The  passengers 
alight,  take  a  meal  at  the  hotel  across  from  the  station, 
ask  the  waiter  a  few  questions  between  courses,  make 
some  notes,  catch  the  train  and  the  history  of  Bale  is 
written. 

This  is  the  last  of  Switzerland  and  in  the  afternoon  of 
the  17th.  We  found  our  train  feeling  its  way  through 
tunnels  and  under  bridges  in  the  midst  of  apparent  bed- 
lam, and  had  I  not  known  before  I  would  have  then  found 
out  that  we  were  pulling  into  the  vaudeville  of  the 
world — the  city  of  Paris. 

PARIS. 

I  have  breathed  a  few  times  since  my  arrival  but  they 
came  in  short  pants  as  does  everything  here,it  is  generally 
a  couple  of  gasps  and  a  spasm,  spit  on  your  hands  and  be- 
gin all  over  again,  at  least  tha';  is  the  way  I  have  been  do- 
ing Paris,  no,  hold  on!  that  is  the  way  Paris  has  been  do- 
in  g  me !  Anyhow,  it  is  quite  a  burgh  from  the  top  of  the 
Eifel  Tower  to  the  subway  and  the  sewers;  it  is  worth 
while  to  stay  overnight  and  see  things. 

Paris  has  everything  new  and  up  to  date,  and  is  proud  of 
it.  Not  only  that,  but  I  find  that  it  has  a  couple  of  yester- 
days to  look  back  on. 

A  Bit  of  Ancient  History. 

I  find  that  35  years  B.  C.  under  the  name  of  Lutetia 
Paris  was  of  sufficient  importance  to  attract  the  attention 
of  a  Roman  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Julius  Caesar,  who 
at  that  time  was  taking  in  all  countries  that  happened  to 
be  on  the  bargain  counter.  Paris  was  annexed  by  Julius 
for  a  mere  song  and  stayed  put  for  a  few  centuries,  or  un- 
til the  Franks  in  the  4th  century  thought  of  starting  up 
for  themselves  and  served  notice  on  the  Romans  to  quit, 
which  they  did  after  the  usual  number  had  been  planted 
by  the  Franks,  to  prove  to  the  Romans  that  they  really 
needed  the  place. 

In  496  Clovis,  the  choice  of  the  12th  ward,  became  king 


50  HOW   I    DID    EUEOPE 

and  at  the  same  time  embraced  a  new  wife  and  Christian- 
ity. Paris  was  made  the  capital  and  they  kept  on  adding 
a  few  acres  here  and  there  until  it  grew  big  enough  to  call 
itself  a  kingdom  and  have  trouble  at  home.  When  in  496 
Clovis  became  a  Christian  he  did  not  dream  that  on  Aug. 
24,  1572  some  of  his  followers  should  shut  off  the  breath 
meter  of  70,000  of  their  brother  Christians  because  they 
had  started  clearing  another  trail  to  the  capital  of  the  new 
Jerusalem.  This  is  now  known  as  St.  Bartholomew's  Day 
and  is  celebrated  annually,  but  the  killing  has  gradually 
been  cut  out  so  that  it  is  now  a  very  tame  affair. 

Things  moved  along  more  or  less  quietly  for  a  time,  the 
King  in  the  meantime  having  established  a  boarding  and 
lodging  house  called  the  Bastille,  where  he  placed  any  of 
his  friends  whom  he  was  afraid  might  be  kidnapped  by 
other  countries.  The  common  people  got  mad  at  this  dis- 
crimination, and  on  the  14th  Julyl789  tore  the  old  thing 
down  and  told  the  boarders  to  go  work  for  a  living,  and 
even  got  worked  up  to  such  a  pitch  that  they  took  the  king 
prisoner  and  accused  him  of  a  lot  of  things,  and  as  I  un- 
derstand it,  actually  caught  him  with  the  goods.  They 
kept  him  quiet  for  a  while  and  then  sawed  his  head  off 
and  started  out  on  a  debauch  known  as  the  Reign  of 
Terror,  which  lasted  for  a  couple  of  years,  then  Boneparte 
came  along  and  the  people  bought  some  new  crowns  and 
things  and  started  in  the  Emperor  business,  this  being  one 
degree  higher  than  a  king.  Things  began  to  look  up 
again  for  France,  as  Napoleon  Boneparte  was  a  scrapper 
and  made  the  other  nations  sit  up  and  take  notice,  but 
he  got  the  big  head  and  swelled  up  something  awful 
until  he  got  in  a  mix  up  with  an  Irishman  by  the  name  of 
Wellington.  The  scrap  was  to  be  20  rounds,  but  Blucher, 
who  it  seems  was  referee,  sided  with  Wellington  and  gave 
him  the  decision  in  the  16th  round.  The  other  nations 
around  the  ring  side  said  they  had  a  good  run  for  their 
money,  and  Napoleon  retired  to  a  small  island  presented 
to  him  by  the  British  nation,  where  he  died,  never  having 
felt  the  same  since  the  scrap  at  Waterloo. 

France  was  again  getting  on  its  feet  so  to  speak  when 
Prussia  began  sassing  back  and  the  result  was  an  awful 
mix  up  in!871  when  Paris  was  informed  that  the  Prussian 
army  was  outside  and  insisted  on  calling.  Paris  barred 
the  door  and  lived  on  odd  scraps  left  over  from  the  last 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  51 

square  meal  125  days  ago.  The  Prussians  without  any 
thought  of  etiquette,  rudely  forced  their  way  in  and  prac- 
tically told  the  Parisians  to  go  away  back  and  sit  down, 
and  went  out  to  Versailles,  and  in  the  Palace  out  there 
proclaimed  William  I  Emperor  of  Germany,  then,  after 
telling  France  how  much  they  were  going  to  charge  for 
coming  all  that  distance,  went  home. 

Paris  was  all  broke  up  over  the  way  they  had  been 
euchered  and  when  the  Germans  left  had  73  days  rough 
house  among  themselves,  everybody  taking  a  swat  at 
anything  that  looked  royal,  and  knocking  things  about  in 
a  most  reckless  way.  Property  was  destroyed  to  the  tune 
of  #150.000,000,  and  France  once  again  became  a  Republic 
since  which  time  she  is  spoken  of  very  well  by  the  neigh- 
bors, and  at  the  present  time  Paris,  with  a*  population  of 
three  million,  keeps  open  house  to  all  nations  of  the  earth. 

So  much  to  be  seen  and  remembered  one  gets  confused, 
a  few  of  the  things  stand  out  more  than  the  others. 

Place  de  la  Concorde. 

The  Place  de  la  Concorde,  a  square  in  which  are  some 
line  statues,  and  in  the  centre  is  the  Obelisk  of  Luxor,  one 
of  those  Cleopatra  needle  affairs,  it  is  placed  on  the  spot 
where  the  guillotine  was  erected  in  1793  which  had  such  a 
busy  time  during  the  reign  of  terror.  It  was  here  that 
Louis  16th  and  Maria  Antoinette  were  beheaded. 

Champs  Elysees. 

The  Champs  Elysees,  the  chief  drive  in  Paris,  is  a  splen- 
did affair  when  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  other  ave- 
nues that  lead  in  and  out  of  it,  and  is  considered  by  com- 
petent judges  to  be  about  as  good  as  any  in  the  world. 

Ars  de  Triomph. 

The  Arc  de  Triomph,  a  piece  of  work  the  French  are 
justly  proud  of,  is  said  to  be  the  largest  triumphal  arch  in 
the  world.  It  was  begun  by  Napoleon  I  in  1805.  It  is 
160  feet  high,  164  feet  in  width,  74  feet  in  depth.  On  it 
are  depicted  in  sculpture  scenes  in  the  history  of  France 
commemorating  its  victories  in  war  and  peace. 


52  HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

Tomb  of  Napoleon  L 

Tills  looks  like  and  is  a  kind  of  a  church  and  has  a  fine 
dome.  It  was  erected  in  1706.  The  exterior  has  fine  col- 
umns in  Doric  and  Corinthian  and  statues  of  the  four  car- 
dinal virtues.  The  height  of  the  cross  on  the  dome  is  340 
feet  and  the  diameter  of  the  dome  is  86  feet.  From  the 
floor  of  the  church  you  look  down  into  the  open  erypt  36 
feet  in  diameter,  and  20  feet  below,  where  you  stand  in 
the  centre  of  the  crypt.  Immediately  below  the  centre 
of  the  dome,  is  the  tomb,  which  is  of  red  Finland  granite 
in  three  pieces,  immense  in  size  and  weight,  very  plain 
but  grand  and  solemn  looking.  The  stone  was  presented 
by  Emperor  Nicholas  of  Prussia ;  12  statues  representing 
the  chief  victories  of  Napoleon  are  placed  around,  con- 
templating the  sarcophagus.  Other  relatives  lie  in  the 
building  elsewhere.  A  persons  feels  the  solemnity  of  the 
place  even  after  getting  outside. 

The  Eiffel  Tower. 

The  Eiffel  Tower  is  another  of  the  monuments  of  Paris 
not  to  be  overlooked.  It  was  built  as  a  feature  of  the  Paris 
Exposition  and  allowed  to  remain.  It  is  984  feet  high 
and  has  been  written  about  and  described  so  often  that  I 
will  let  it  go  at  that.  Its  principle  use  is  meteorological, 

Notre  Dame. 

I  examined  the  exterior  of  Notre  Dame  and  called  it 
square  as  I  had  enough  of  churches  in  Italy.  The  outside 
of  this  church  is  very  fine  indeed.  Statues  of  Kings  and 
others  are  on  the  outside,  so  I  remained  with  them.  It 
occupies  the  site  on  which  stood  former  churches  and  the 
site  of  the  church  which  Clovis  started  when  he  became 
King  and  a  Christian  in  the  4th  century.  It  has  been 
restored  and  rebuilt  a  number  of  times.  The  last  and 
best  restoration  was  begun  in  1845  and  as  it  stands 
today  it  is  said  to  be  about  the  best  specimen  of  decorated 
Gothic  work  in  the  world. 

Width  western  front  128  feet,  height  of  two  front 
towers  204  feet,  length  of  Cathedral  390  feet,  width  of 
transcept  144  feet,  height  of  vaulting  182  feet.  This 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  53 

puts  me  in  mind  that  Victor  Hugo  describes  it  in  Notre 
Dame  de  Paris,  and  I  spent  quite  a  time  going  through  the 
home  of  that  celebrated  author  viewing  the  work  of  his 
hand.  When  he  was  in  exile  and  at  home  he  made  tables 
and  pictures  equally  well ;  pretty  nearly  ail  the  furniture 
he  used  was  made  by  his  own  hand. 

The  Place  de  la  Bastille. 

Where  once  stood  the  old  fortress  or  prison,  was  built  in 
1369  by  Charles  V.  It  was  formerly  used  as  a  castle  for 
the  defense  of  Paris,  but  afterwards  a  kind  of  a  King's 
prison,  where  the  man  with  the  iron  mask  was  kept  with 
many  other  celebrated  prisoners.  It  was  destroyed  July 
14th  1789  and  in  the  centre  of  the  place  now  stands  a  tall 
shaft  to  mark  the  spot.  It  is  154  feet  high.  It  has  the 
names  of  615  people  who  fell  July  27th,  28th,  29th  1830, 
and  whose  bones  are  buried  underneath  the  column. 

The  Louvre  is  too  big  a  job  to  tackle.  I  will  let  it  go 
by  saying  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  do  it  justice, 
suffice  to  say  anyone  wanting  to  see  the  best  in  art,  old 
and  new,  can  see  it  there,  and  spend  days  seeing  it.  I  had 
not  the  time  and  am  not  a  judge  of  painting,  but  could 
spend  a  long  time  viewing  the  sculptures  and  products  of 
long  ago,  but  must  hurry  along  now  to  Versailles. 

VERSAILLES. 

We  had  decided  to  leave  Paris  on  the  morrow,  but 
while  we  were  discussing  our  lunch,  and  other  things, 
we  were  reminded  that  to  leave  Paris  and  not  see 
Versailles  would  be  about  equal  to  going  to  the  theatre 
and  not  seeing  the  actors  or  the  play;  so  I  engaged 
an  automobile,  and,  after  lunch,  we  started,  with  our 
Paris  guide,  and  as  he  informed  us,  one  of  six  that  knew 
Versailles. 

The  chauffeur  knew  the  way,  and  the  guide  certainly 
knew  his  piece  when  he  got  there,  we  arrived  after 
a  very  swift  run  through  a  fairly  respectable  looking 
country. 

The  followig  is  something  of  what  I  heard  and  saw 
about  this,  the  former  seat  of  Royalty. 

In  1624  Louis  XIII  began  by  building  a  hunting  box, 


54  HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

but  built  in  regal  style;  then  Louis  XIV  got  busy  and 
devoted  himself  to  the  building  of  a  magnificent  place, 
which  was  to  be  the  seat  of  government.  This  was 
accomplished  in  1682,  when  the  court  moved  to  Ver- 
sailles. His  room  is  shown  where  he  received  his  au- 
diences and  where  he  died,  after  reigning  72  years. 
Louis  XVI  intended  to  build  upon  a  new  place,  and 
started,  but  run  short  of  funds. 

We  were  shown  the  room  where  the  royal  family  met  on 
the  morn  of  October  6,  1789,  when  the  mob  were  trying 
to  break  in  and  get  Marie  Antoinette  and  the  King — the 
Little  Trianon — a  retreat  in  the  gardens,  where  she  used 
to  play  at  being  a  dairy  maid  and  make  butter  instead 
of  playing  Queen.  '  This  caused  the  French  people  to 
sour  on  her,  and  I  suppose  the  Paris  shopkeepers  were 
losing  money  by  having  the  Court  out  there  in  the  cold. 

Napoleon's  rooms  are  shown,  and  his  furniture,  plans, 
instruments,  pictures,  and  maps,  the  royal  carriages  from 
the  time  of  the  first  empire;  the  royal  stables  are  now  a 
baracks;  the  royal  apartments,  reception  rooms,  throne 
rooms,  etc.,  all  now  a  world-renowned  art  gallery. 

The  following  rooms  were  pointed  out  on  account  of 
the  important  events  with  which  they  were  associated: 
where  Louis  XIV  died  1715.  Louis  XV  died  1775. 
Palace  turned  into  a  manufactory  of  arms  in  1795, 
occupied  by  Napoleon,  and  after  his  fall  was  occupied 
by  Louis  XVIII,  Charles  X  and  Louis-Philippi.  In  1871 
the  Palace  was  occupied  by  the  Germans,  and  on  the 
18th  of  January,  in  the  throne  room,  King  William  of 
Prussia  was  proclaimed  Emperor  of  German.y. 

The  place  is  magnificent  in  extent  and  contains  many 
of  the  world's  great  paintings,  etc.,  but  it  was  impossible 
to  see  it  all,  so  we  started  back  for  Paris.  Our  guide 
and  chauffeur  consulted  and  determined  to  take  us  back 
by  another  route.  They  did,  but  got  lost,  neither  of  them 
knowing  where  we  were.  We  bumped  over  eight 
miles  of  the  worst  road  I  ever  bumped  into.  I  told 
them  to  consult  a  policeman.  We  floundered  around, 
and  in  the  evening  saw  the  lights  of  Paris,  and  eventually 
pulled  up  at  the  hotel.  - 

The  taximeter  showed  that  we  had  run  all  sorts  of 
miles.  We  came  very  near  having  another  French 
revolution,  but  diplomatic  language  and  the  head  porter 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  53 

brought  about  an  understanding.     I  paid  the  indemnity, 
less  the  number  of  miles  spent  in  unknown  territory. 

Then  my  guide,  after  I  had  paid  him  and  given  him 
an  unbiased  opinion  of  a  guide  who  lost  his  party  and 
himself  in  a  twenty  mile  run,  wanted  to  compromise  by 
devoting  the  evening  to  me  and  show  me  around.  I 
demurred,  as  the  streets  were  more  complicated  than  the 
country.  He  certainly  was  no  hayseed  in  the  city  but 
\vns  small  potatoes  in  the  country.  I  couldn't  give  him 
any  pointers,  so  called  it  square  with  a  tip,  and  sent 
him  home  happy. 

Xcxt  day  we  took  a  train  for  Dieppe  and  sailed  for 
NV\v  Haven.  We  wanted  the  shortest  rail  travel  and  the 
longest  sea  route.  The  trip  across  the  Channel  was 
rough,  but  we  enjoyed  it,  and  in  about  five  hours  we 
\vere  again  in  the  hands  of  the  custom  officers,  but  they 
were  very  nice,  and  we  were  soon  on  the  train  on  our 
v,  ay  to  London.  Before  we  started,  however,  our  hand 
1  Km  gage  having  been  put  in  a  compartment,  the  guard 
told  me  we  could  get  a  cup  of  tea  and  he  would  try  and 
kr<'p  the  whole  compartment  for  us.  We  had  it,  and 
he  did. 

After  we  were  in  and  seated  he  locked  the  door  and 
went  off.  Some  one  tried  to  get  in,  but  the  guard  was 
!>;  sy  in  another  place  and  I  suppose  found  our  would-be 
companion  a  seat.  I  saw  the  guard  later  on  and  he  told 
nn4  how  pleased  he  was  that  he  did  us  the  favor.  A 
u'-md  train  and  quick  run  soon  landed  us  in  the  metro- 
polis of  the  world.  A  carriage — not  by  the  hour  but 
hy  the  job — delivered  us  in  the  court  of  the  Hotel  Cecil, 
ma  our  first  night  in  London. 

JERSEY. 

August  29th.  Took  train  at  Paddington  station  for 
Wi'vinoutli,  where  the  boat  was  waiting.  The  train 
did  not  run  aboard  but  did  the  next  best  by  running 
alongside ;  got  on  board  with  our  friends  from  Wigan  who 
took  the  trip  with  us.  A  few  toots  of  the  whistle  and  we 
were  off.  People  began  to  make  themselves  comfortable 
for  a  pleasant  sea  sickness,  some  were  disappointed  but  on 
the  average  most  of  them  realized  their  expectations. 


56  HOW    I    DID   EUROPE 

Our  party  did  not  expect  much,  so  escaped  with  a  clean 
bill  of  health. 

Guernsey. 

Our  first  landing  was  made  at  Guernsey,  one  of  the 
Channel  Islands,  where  grapes  in  profusion  were  offered 
for  sale  in  small  baskets  at  6d.  each,  we  bought  some  and 
found  them  very  good  though  mostly  raised  under  cover. 
I  don't  know  what  the  rule  is  here  about  the  boat,  whether 
they  remain  until  all  the  grapes  are  sold,  or  are  governed 
by  the  freight,  as  both  events  came  to  an  end  about  the 
same  time.  Anyhow  we  were  off  again  after  waving  good- 
bye to  the  complete  population  that  had  assembled  on  the 
pier,  their  daily  habit  in  playing  tag  with  the  outer  world 
and  the  only  real  dissipation  indulged  in  by  the  thrifty 
grape  growers  of  the  little  island.  A  couple  of  hours,  run 
brought  us  to  Jersey  through  a  very  rocky  entrance ;  took 
a  carriage  and  were  soon  deposited  at  the  Royal  Hotel, 
which  we  found  to  be  very  comfortable. 

After  spending  a  few  days  in  carriages  and  automobiles 
this  is  the  result  of  our  visit.  A  gentleman  who  spent  con- 
siderable time  and  thought  on  the  island  tells  us  about  its 
history.  He  says  about  1200  B.  C.  the  islands  were  as  yet 
hitched  on  to  the  main  land  and  had  not  decided  to  set  up 
in  business  for  themselves,  even  in  the  time  of  the  Romans, 
although  then  at  high  tide  walking  to  Jersey  required  a 
large  amount  of  faith. 

In  709  A.  D.  it  appears  that  a  tidal  wave  came  along  and 
smashed  things,  submerging  forests,  buildings  and  people, 
making  Jersey  an  island  and  forming  St.  Aubins  Bay.  In 
this,  at  least,  it  was  kind  as  it  is  a  very  pretty  affair.  The 
last  connection  between  the  islands  and  any  main  land 
took  place  in  1203  since  which  the  Channel  Islands  started 
to  attract  attention  by  growing  cabbages  ten  feet  high. 
This  is  literally  true.  Nature  must  have  intended  breed- 
ing giraffes  to  feed  on  the  cabbages,  but  nature  slipped  a 
cog  somewhere,  and  now  all  that  the  cabbages  are  grown 
for  is  making  walking  sticks  out  of  the  stalks.  They  are 
not  things  of  beauty,  but  you  must  not  say  so  aloud  on 
the  island. 

It  appears  also  that  old  Druid  Colleges  and  Convents 
for  the  Druidesses  have  been  found  in  Jersey  of  a  very  re- 


AIMD    HOW   IT    DID    ME  57 

mote  period.  At  least  50  of  these  monuments  have  been 
discovered,  and  evidence  of  a  very  early  and  large  popula- 
tion. The  name  of  the  island  was  Cesaraea  by  the  Ro- 
mans, an.d  the  present  name  a  corruption  of  that  word. 
It  further  appears  by  this  witness  that  Julius  Ceasar  one 
morning  looked  across  the  water  and  seeing  land  ordered 
out  his  boat  and  twelve  men,  and  rowed  over  and  took 
possession  and  not  knowing  much  about  the  value  of  cab- 
bages, divided  the  thing  among  his  merry  men,  after 
which  they  rowed  back  and  had  breakfast. 

If  England  ever  finds  out  a  little  of  Jersey  history  it  will 
become  necessary  as  a  matter  of  honour  to  send  a  fleet 
over  there  and  get  them  to  surrender,  as  it  appears  the 
Jersey  men  helped  to  conquer  England  and  never  was 
conquered  itself.  When  William,  in  1066.  conquered 
England.  Jersey  was  a  part  of  the  Duchy  of  Normandy, 
ar.nl  as  such  sent  its  warriors  along.  The  net  result  today 
is  that  Jersey  is  not  a  Crown  Colony  but  an  appendage  of 
the  Crown,  loyal  to  a  fault  and  for  many  centuries  duly 
appreciated  by  the  British  Crown  for  this  quality. 

The  one  great  man  produced  by  Jersey  was  Robert 
Wace,  he  was  born  in  the  beginning  of  the  12th  century 
and  died  in  England  in  the  year  1180.  .  He  was  the 
inventor  of  jingles,  sometimes  called  poetry,  but  in  these 
•  lays  known  as  Limtricks.  All  his  writings  had  the  last 
line  omitted  and  the  tallest  cabbage  stalk  in  the  Jersey 
orchard  was  given  to  the  one  who  supplied  the  best  miss- 
ing line,  if  he  was  known  to  the  poet's  family. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  most  of  the  old  churches 
that  are  to  be  found  in  Jersey  were  started,  they  run  as 
follows  in  Parishes:  St.  Brelades  1111,  St.Ouen  1130,  St. 
Saviour  1154,  Trinity  1163,  St.  Peter  1167,  St.  Clement 
1117,  St.  John  1204,  Grouville  1322,  St.  Mary  1320  and  St. 
Helier  1341. 

Churches  existed  here  before  this  century,  the  oldest  one 
I  saw  was  the  Fisherman's  Chapel  adjoining,  and  practi- 
cally a  part  of  St.  Brelade.  I  presume  the  reason  for  so 
many  churches  starting  about  this  time  was  the  crusades, 
and  when  Richard  I  was  taking  such  an  interest  in 
reducing  the  infidel  population. 

I  will  cut  on  old  history  and  get  down  to  the  earth  on 
this  Island  as  I  found  it.  First  comes  Mount  Orgeuil  Cas- 
tle. 


58  HOW    I   DID    EUROPE 

Mount  Orgeuil  Castle. 

This  castle  is  so  old  that  it  is  half  believed  that  the  castle 
was  built  first  and  the  island  created  after,  with  the  cor- 
rect sized  hill  placed  close  to  the  water  to  fit  its  require- 
ments. Anyhow  we  find  it  fighting  the  French  in  1340, 
being  condemned  by  a  commission  in  1593  on  account  of 
Its  age,  being  repaired  and  added  to  in  1470-1486.  It  has 
a  crypt  in  which  two  of  its  governors  were  buried,  one  in 
1506  and  the  other  in  1533.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was  its 
Governor  from!600-1603  he  smoked  tobacco  and  startled 
the  natives  by  so  doing,  told  them  of  America  and  the 
potato.  They  must  have  caught  on,  for  the  potato  is 
now  their  long  suite,  they  raise  the  earliest  potatoes  and 
send  them  to  London,  and  sell  them  either  by  the  ounce 
or  pound  according  to  the  season. 

The  castle  has  a  room  in  which  it  is  said  prisoners  were 
placed  the  night  before  they  were  hung  and  when  they 
stepped  out  of  the  door  it  was  to  see  the  beam  with  a  rope 
dangling  from  its  centre.  In  those  days  there  was  no 
drop,  so  they  just  strung  him  up.  The  beam  or  part  of  it 
Is  still  to  be  seen. 

An  old  well  is  located  in  a  dark  room ;  it  is  walled  round 
for  57  feet,  and  no  one,  it  Is  said,  ever  touched  the  bottom 
with  a  rope.  The  water  was  cold  and  tasted  good.  The 
usual  rooms,  living  and  sleeping,  were  to  be  seen,  or  the 
place  where  they  had  been,  and  the  secret  pass  by  which 
certain  distinguished  people  made  their  escape  when  nec- 
essary. It  Is  now  remembered  most  lovingly  on  account 
of  the  fact  that  Queen  Victoria  and  Prince  Albert  paid  It 
a  visit  in  1846.  It  Is  a  fine  appearing  old  thing  and  as  a 
curio  fills  the  bill  very  satisfactorily. 

Princess  Tower. 

Another  building,  the  Princess  Tower,  put  on  some  airs 
a  few  centuries  ago,  but  was  shy  on  scandals  and  fights, 
and  so  lost  cast  and  at  the  present  day  is  not  considered  in 
the  same  ruined  class  as  the  castle. 

Elizabeth  Castle. 
Elizabeth  Castle,  the  old  fort  that  used  to  guard  the  en- 


ANJJ    HOW    IT    DID    ME  59 

trance  to  St,  Helier,  the  town  of  the  island,  is  now  out  of 
commission,  the  fine  modern  Fort  Regent  commanding  the 
entrance  in  a  very  effective  manner. 

St.  Helier. 

St.  Helier  has  a  population  of  about  32,000,  including 
remittance  men  and  retired  army  officers;  it  is  the  seaport 
town  and  the  principal  place  of  business  of  the  islands. 
The  English  language  is  official  but  French  is  taught  a  cer- 
tain time  each  day  in  the  schools,  but  in  the  country 
places  many  old  people  could  hardly  tell  you  anything  in 
Kii'_rlish  beyond  the  pedigree  and  price  of  a  cow,  and  when 
they  expect  the  next  crop  of  potatoes. 

The  streets  are  not  very  wide  but  the  shops  and  stores 
are  pretty  good,  some  are  very  old  and  adorned  with  the 
Jersey  coat  of  arms,  (three  lions  on  a  shield),  they  are 
ilershouncl  lions  with  very  long  bodies  and  very  short  legs. 
caused,  I  suppose,  on  account  of  having  to  hunt  their  holes 
so  often  when  war  threatened. 

The  country  surrounding  is  very  pretty  and  comfort- 
ably hilly  with  a  wonderful  growth  of  foliage,  in  fact 
everything  seems  to  grow  in  profusion  here  except  the 
above  mentioned  coat  of  arms  and  its  three  lions.  Many 
very  pretty  bays  are  around  the  island,  where  bathing 
and  lobsters  can  be  indulged  in,  or  the  lobster  can  be 
indulged  in  bathing  if  he  pays  the  price,  but  Bouley  Bay 
is  the  home  of  the  lobster  where  it  is  served  up  so  nicely 
and  plentifully  that  I  pretty  nearly  turned  turtle  the 
following  day  after  eating  them,  but  as  I  look  back  on  the 
experience  I  believe  I  would  eat  them  again  and  take  the 
•chances  on  the  after  effect. 

This  is  the  following  day  and  it  is  cut  out  of  the  history 
of  Jersey.  I  would  have  to  write  personal  history  and  I 
don't  like  to  read  over  my  own  sufferings. 

After  getting  properly  in  shape  we  started  out  for  our 
finish  of  Jersey  in  two  autos. 

We  had  splendid  weather,  visited  all  that  was  left  of 
the  island,  the  old  church  of  St.  Brelade  being  about  the 
most  interesting  of  this  day  with  the  old  seaman's  chapel 
said  to  have  been  built  in  the  year  800.  The  sexton  that 
showed  us  around  has  been  in  continual  service  since  the 
laying  of  the  corner  stone,  at  least  he  looks  and  talks  that 


CO  HOW   I    DID    EUROPE 

way;  his  long  suite  is  the  pictures  on  the  ceiling  of  the 
chapel;  he  gets  you  seated  and  excuses  himself  while  he 
sets  the  sun.  Joshua  could  get  cards  and  spades  from  this 
old  fellow  about  commanding  the  sun.  He  steps  outside 
places  a  looking  glass  in  such  position  that  the  sun  strik- 
ing its  surface  throws  the  reflection  in  through  the  door  of 
the  chapel,  then  with  another  glass  in  his  hand  (  I  mean 
looking  glass)  he  throws  a  few  sunbeams  on  the  ceiling, 
calls  your  undivided  attention  to  what  may  have  been 
some  very  crude  old  paintings.  He  is  free  to  admit  that 
they  are  not  in  perfect  condition,  but  his  sanctimonious 
face  and  voice  almost  make  you  believe  you  can  see  Christ 
entering  Jerusalem  on  the  back  of  an  ass  because  he  gets 
the  sunbeam  to  drag  out  before  your  astonished  gaze  the 
two  ears  of  the  aforesaid  beast  of  burden.  I  got  so  en- 
thused after  being  moved  from  one  side  of  the  chapel  to 
the  other  and  back  again,  and  listening  to  his  prophetic 
voice,  that  when  he  told  us  about  the  fall  of  man  depicted 
in  one  of  the  paintings,  I  actually  thought  I  saw  snakes. 
I  felt  alright,  however,  when  he  told  us  that  the  pictures 
were  to  be  imagined  largely  as  they  were  not  there, 
having  been  destroyed  by  time  and  things. 

After  buying  whatever  postal  cards  he  offered,  we 
hurriedly  left  the  graveyard  and  its  ressurected  old 
keeper,  and  hastened  along  to  more  pleasant  if  not  more 
modern  scenes. 

We  lunched  close  to  the  old  place  in  a  pleasantly 
situated  hotel,  the  St.  Brelade,  they  served  speghetti  soup 
but  I  could  not  tackle  it  till  I  had  a  drink  as  that  fall  of 
man  business  and  the  snake  made  me  see  them  in  the 
soup.  I  felt  all  right  presently,  however,  and  even  the 
asses  ears  in  the  entrance  to  Jerusalem  faded  away  and  I 
began  seeing  natural.  Poor  old  man,  fine  old  church, 
credulous  me — a  wonderful  trinity. 

On  our  return  trip  to  the  city  we  passed  a  parish  school, 
St.  Mary  or  St.  Peter,  I  don't  remember  which,  and  I  am 
sure  they  don't  care,  anyhow  one  of  our  friends  wanted  to 
call  and  see  a  teacher,  so  we  alighted.  It  was  recess.  We 
all  went  in  and  were  introduced  to  the  teachers,  a  very 
nice  lot  of  inspirers  to  higher  and  nobler  purposes.  The 
Parson  was  present,  whether  as  spiritual  adviser  or  intel- 
lectual developer,  I  don't  know  which.  Anyhow  none  had 
ever  been  in  a  motor  car  and  when  it  was  suggested  that  a 


AND    ROW    IT    DID    ME  61 

rim  around  be  had,  just  for  the  name  of  the  thing,  the 
good  parson  and  teachers  piled  into  the — no  I  mean 
gingerly  boarded  the  machine,  and  when  all  were  seated, 
the  parson  having  a  "Now  I  lay  me"  expression  on  his 
face,  and  the  teachers  a  "So  mote  it  be"  look  in  their 
eyes,  they  started  off,  the  chauffeur  having  previously 
been  instructed  to  give  the  parson  and  brain  developers 
a  run  for  their  mone3r.  About  four  blocks  forming  a 
square  was  where  they  were  initiated  into  the  mysteries 
of  "going  some"  and  when  the  machine  came  to  a  stand 
still  with  all  on  board  safe,  I  almost  thought  I  heard  the 
doxology. 

The  fever  spread  and  we  piled  the  youngsters  in  as 
many  as  could  sit  or  stand  and  sent  them  the  same  run  till 
v/e  had  all  the  school  runnning  like  a  lot  of  Comanchi  In- 
dians. As  we  moved  off  the  children  cheered  in  English 
and  French  till  we  were  out  of  hearing. 

We  hastened  along,  passing  many  points  of  interest,  but 
we  were  in  a  hurry  to  visit  the  asylum  and  a  fair  being 
held  iii  aid  of  some  homeless  children.  We  made  the 
asylum  all  right  and  went  through  it,  found  new  manage- 
ment but  many  of  the  old  patients  were  known  to  our 
party  and  had  been  there  for  over  20  years. 

We  then  made  our  way  to  the  fair  in  aid  of  homeless 
'•hildren,  and  found  it  well  patronized.  It  seems  a  Dr. 
Bernardo  in  walking  along  the  streets  one  night  was  ac- 
ensted  by  a  waif  and  after  passing  it  by  turned  back  and 
questioned  the  child  and  found  it  a  place  for  the  night, 
then  the  following  day  further  enquiry  developed  the  fact 
that  the  child  had  no  home.  He  provided  for  it,  and  then 
began  wondering  how  many  more  like  this  little  one  were 
around  in  that  and  other  places,  and  he  became  so  inter- 
ested in  this  particular  phase  of  humanity  that  today  his 
name  and  institutions  stand  for  all  that  is  good  in  the  care 
of  the  uncared  for  derelict  children,  no  matter  how  they 
came  to  that  condition,  and  it  is  recorded  that  some  of  the 
brightest  people  of  the  business  world  today  are  primarily 
responsible  to  this  gentleman  for  the  opportunity  of  start- 
ing right.  Leaving  the  fair  and  the  asylum  we  made  our 
way  to  the  hotel,  had  dinner,  and  all  hands,  including  our 
Jersey  friends,  attended  the  theatre  in  the  evening.  The 


62  HOW    I    DID    ETJEOPE 

theatre  pleased,  because  we  had  had  a  pleasant  day  and 
good  company. 

The  following  day  we  started  on  our  return  trip  to  Lon- 
don by  way  of  Southampton.  The  weather  on  this  trip 
proved  worse  than  coming  and  most  of  the  passengers 
were  feeling  very  uncomfortable.  However,  we  landed 
safely  and  soon  were  on  our  way  to  London  where  we  ar- 
rived in  due  time.  Went  to  the  Cecil,  and  began  our 
visit  proper  to  the  British  Isles. 

LONDON 

London  is  of  such  immensity  that  for  me  to  attempt  to 
say  anything  about  it  by  way  of  descriptions  would  be  to 
belittle  it,  so  I  will  content  myself  by  putting  down  a 
few  jottings  about  some  of  the  wonders  of  this  most  won- 
derful city. 

London  proper  is  not  so  large,  being  a  little  over  one 
square  mile — that  is  the  London  of  old.  The  present 
London  has  about  690  square  miles.  From  43  to  409  A. 
D.  it  was  not  of  much  importance,  and  the  Romans  only 
kept  it  because  no  one  seemed  to  care  about  it.  In  the 
early  part  of  the  7th  century  the  Christians  began  to 
build  churches  of  importance,  St.  Pauls  being  one  of  the 
first  that  has  come  down  to  us  in  the  town's  history. 

The  name  London,  it  seems,  came  from  Llyn,  a  pool, 
and  din  or  dun,  a  hill  or  port. 

Its  history  is  like  that  of  most  other  places  of  note. 
It  had  its  times  of  peace  and  times  of  war ;  its  periods  of 
progress  and  stagnations,  off  and  on,  till  1907,  when  I 
found  it  getting  along  nicely  and  trying  to  sustain  its 
reputation  as  the  greatest  thing  on  earth.  A  few  facts 
that  I  learned  about  it  might  be  useful  for  anyone  who 
contemplates  building  up  something  in  opposition  to 
London  Town. 

The  people  in  general  were  massacred  by  the  Danes 
in  839.  The  town  was  burned  down  in  892,  and  again 
in  1077.  The  wind  next  took  a  whack  at  it  in  1090  and 
blew  down  600  houses.  Then  comes  along  the  plague 
in  1361,  and  again  in  1603-65.  Then  the  great  fire  of 
London  in  1666.  Another  big  wind  in  1703.  Then  a  cold 
frost  in  1739-40,  when  the  Thames  was  frozen  and  fairs 
held  on  the  ice.  All  this  and  our  arrival  in  1907,  would 


AND    HOW   IT    DID    ME  63 

have  discouraged  most  any  ordinary  town,  but  when  I 
left  it  seemed  determined  to  continue  doing  business  at 
the  same  old  stand. 

I  have  looked  over  the  situation,  more  or  less,  and  have 
been  impressed  about  the  same  way;  but  I  think  my 
deepest  and  most  lasting  impression  was  made  by  West- 
minister Abbey,  a  wonderful  place  containing  most  won- 
derful things. 

Westminister  Abbey. 

I  don't  know  of  any  spot  on  earth  that  contains  the 
remains  of  so  many  and  great  in  historic  importance. 
Friend  and  foe  seem  to  rest  quietly  within  a  few  feet  of 
each  other;  people  who  have  been  great  in  thought  and 
action,  have  earned  their  right  to  their  little  corner 
there.  But  why  this  place  above  all  other  places,  I  won- 
dered, and  here  is  the  answer  I  found. 

Westminister  Abbey  is  built  on  the  site  of  a  Roman 
temple  of  Apollo.  The  first  Christian  Church  was  built 
in  610,  to  God  and  St.  Peter.  About  1050  Edward  the 
Confessor  rebuilt  on  the  site  of  the  original  Westminister 
Abbey,  intending  it  to  be  his  place  of  burial.  It  was 
completed  and  dedicated  in  1065,  and  the  Confessor 
died  a  few  days  afterward,  and  was  buried  close  to  the 
altar.  Prom  that  time  the  Norman  Kings  and  English 
people  tried  to  outdo  each  other  in  doing  honor  to  his 
memory,  and  to  be  crowned  in  this  place  and  to  be  buried 
near  his  body  became  the  proudest  wish  and  greatest 
honor  that  could  be  conferred  on  a  King. 

The  reason  why  it  is  not  a  Cathedral  and  how  it  got 
its  name  is  that  it  was  built  as  the  Westminister  Abbey 
Church,  or  the  church  of  the  Abbey  of  Westminister. 
It  was  intended  for  the  Monks  and  an  Abbot,  and  there- 
fore could  not  be  a  Cathedral,  as  the  people  did  not 
worship  there — although  I  find  it  was  a  Cathedral  in 
Henry  VIII  time,  from  1540-50,  when  the  Monastery  part 
had  been  abolished. 

When  William  the  conqueror  came  over  he  based  his 
claim  to  the  throne  of  England  on  a  promise  made  by  the 
Confessor  when  he  was  in  exile  in  Normandy.  And  when 
he  was  crowned  it  was  in  Westminister  Abbey,  and  every 
King  and  Queen  of  England  has  been  crowned  there 


€1  HOW    I    DID    EUEOPE 

since,   including  Edward  VII. 

The  chair  in  which  the  rulers  sit  when  being  crowned 
in  the  Abbey  has  quite  a  history,  and  also  the  stone  under 
the  chair,  known  as  the  Seone  stone,  or  stone  of  face. 
The  legend  of  the  stone  runs  that  Jacob  rested  his  head 
on  it  at  Beth-el;  his  sons  carried  it  to  Egypt,  and  from 
there  it  passed  to  Spain;  about  700  B.  C.  it  appeared  in 
Ireland  with  the  Spanish  invaders,  and,  placed  on  the 
hill  of  Tara,  it  became  known  as  the  fatal  stone,  or  the 
stone  of  destiny. 

In  330  B.  C.  Fergus,  the  founder  of  the  Scottish 
Monarchy  and  also  of  the  blood  royal  of  Ireland,  received 
the  stone  in  Scotland,  and  on  it  all  Scotch  Kings  were 
crowned.  Edward  I  invaded  Scotland  in  1297,  and 
carried  the  stone  away  and  placed  it  in  Westminister 
Abbey,  and  had  a  chair  made  for  it,  and  in  this  chair  all 
Kings  and  Queens  have  been  crowned  since. 

The  stone  is  said  to  be  Scotch  sand  stone,  26  inches 
long,  16  inches  wide  and  11  inches  thick,  and  is  under  the 
seat  of  the  chair. 

Everything  about  the  Abbey  is  impressive,  the  building 
itself,  its  contents,  and  the  very  atmosphere.  It  would  be 
useless  to  attempt  anything  in  detail  further.  We  went 
through  with  the  guide,  heard  what  he  said,  and  looked 
upon  the  objects  spoken  of.  The  time  consumed  seemed 
long,  and  yet  far  too  short.  I  was  glad  when  the  lecture 
was  over,  yet  desirous  of  remaining  much  longer. 

We  went  to  St.  Pauls,  but  I  did  not  go  in,  as  I  thought 
the  Abbey  and  its  memories  would  suffice  for  one  day. 

The  Tower  of  London. 

The  Tower  of  London  next  attracted  our  attention. 
We  purchased  tickets,  and  were  soon  in  the  presence 
of  the  celebrated  beef-eaters,  a  name  bestowed  on  the 
guards  of  this  particular  place.  Their  uniform  is  differ- 
ent to  that  of  any  other  I  have  seen  in  the  army — middle 
age  uniform  I  suppose — low  shoes,  knee  breeches  and 
loose  tunic,  with  a  sash  over  the  shoulders,  a  belt  around 
the  waist,  a  ruffle  around  the  neck  and  a  low  flat  silk  hat. 

The  Tower  itself  is  old,  part  of  it  having  been  built 
by  the  Normans,  but  William  the  Conqueror  built  the 
White  Tower,  or  keep,  which  gave  the  place  its  name. 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  65 

Then  other  towers  were  aHded  in  different  reigns. 

It  was  the  residence  of  many  of  the  Kings,  and  a  prison 
for  some  others.  The  Crown  Jewels  are  in  what  is 
known  as  the  Wakefield  Tower.  They  can  be  seen  in  a 
large  glass  dome  from  the  outside  of  a  high  railing. 

We  visited  many  of  the  other  towers,  all  a  part  of  the 
London  Tower,  and  saw  the  old  armour  of  famous  men 
and  kings,  trophies  taken  in  war,  rooms  where  dis- 
tinguished people  were  prisoners,  and  where  some  of 
them  were  put  to  death,  implements  of  torture  in  one 
tower  and  the  Crown  Jewels  in  another,  emblem  of  past 
cruelty  and  present  refinement. 

Charing  Cross. 

Charing  Cross,  the  center  of  London,  and  the  site  of 
the  old  village  of  Charing,  and  the  last  place  at  which 
the  bearers  of  the  body  of  Eleanor,  Queen  and  wife  of 
Edward  I,  rested,  when  they  returned  to  London.  At 
each  resting  place  Edward  caused  a  cross,  similar  to 
Charing,  to  be  erected.  This  was  the  last  and  perhaps 
the  only  one  at  present  extant.  Trafalgar  square  is  here 
at  this  point,  and  the  Nelson  monument  its  center. 

Houses  of  Parliament. 

The  Houses  of  Parliament  at  Westminister  are  fine 
buildings  on  historic  sites.  One  of  the  towers  contains 
the  celebrated  clock  known  as  "Big  Ben*'.  The  struc- 
tures are  modern  and  imposing  in  appearance  and  Gothic 
in  architecture. 

Petticoat  Lane. 

We  changed  from  the  impressive  and  grand  to  the 
lighter,  if  not  the  brighter,  side  of  London,  and  took  in 
Petticoat  Lane.  The  official  name  is  Middlesex  street, 
but  you  never  hear  it.  This  place  has  been  celebrated, 
or  notorious,  or  both,  for  many  years.  Here  you  can  buy 
clothes  for  almost  nothing,  new  or  second  hand,  on  the 
streets  or  in  stores.  You  can  have  your  pockets  picked 
and  your  watch  stolen  while  you  are  looking  at  the 
time.  It  is  the  home  of  the  Jew  trader  of  the  cheaper 


CG  HOW   I   DID    EUROPE 

kind.     It  is  the  place  to  go  to  learn  a  new  language  of 
London. 

After  we  had  ridden  slowly  through,  stopping  here 
and  there  to  watch  an  interesting  exchange  of  old  clothes 
for  money,  or  an  exchange  of  opinions  as  to  the  character 
of  one  stall  keeper  about  the  other,  or  the  praising  of  the 
-articles  this  or  that  one  sold,  we  escaped,  and,  after  a 
hasty  examination  to  find  if  I  had  been  touched,  and 
.finding  money  in  my  pocket,  concluded  to  buy  a  drink, 
and  to  that  end  told  the  motor  man  to  drive  to  Dirty 
Dicks. 

Dirty  Dicks. 

I  alighted,  and  going  down  the  basement  at  No.  49 
Bishopsgate  Without,  found  myself  in  that  noted  place 
of  cobwebs,  wine  and  spirits.  I  tried  a  little  and  found  it 
all  right.  I  became  interested.  The  bar  keepers  wore 
leather  aprons,  and  the  place  back  of  the  bar  and  around 
the  barrels  and  bottles  are  covered  with  dust  and 
cobwebs.  Your  glass  and  liquor  are  clean,  and  the 
service  polite,  in  fact  politeness  connected  with  dirt  has 
made  the  first  ow^ner  and  the  place  noted. 

Dirty  Dick,  as  he  became  known,  was  a  dandy  in  his 
early  manhood,  and  had  inherited  a  fortune  from  his 
father,  Nathaniel  Bentley,  who  kept  the  dram  shop  now 
under  inspection.  Young  Nathaniel  had  carriages  and 
servants,  a  country  house,  and  was  looked  upon  as  among 
the  then  smart  set.  He  became  engaged  to  a  young 
lady,  and  invited  his  intended  bride  and  a  number  of 
friends  to  a  splendid  feast  at  his  home.  The  day 
arrived,  and  with  it  came  the  news  that  the  young  lady 
was  dead.  He  shut  up  the  room  in  which  the  feast  was 
spread  and  it  was  never  opened  for  40  years.  He  became 
careless  of  his  clothes,  and,  instead  of  being  a  dandy  and 
spendthrift,  became  dirty  and  a  miser.  He  attended  to 
the  business  but  let  cobwebs  and  dirt  accumulate  till  it 
was  talked  about  so  much  that  ladies  patronized  the 
place  from  curiosity.  Politeness  and  excessive  dirtiness 
soon  made  the  place  a  novelty.  This  continued  for 
nearly  50  years,  and  when  he  died  the  rooms  upstairs 
were  found  in  a  state  of  dirt  and  decay.  For  some  years 
before  he  died  he  would  close  up  the  place  and  go  off  for 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  67 

months  and  come  back  at  or  about  the  anniversary  of 
his  engagement  feast,  open  the  place  for  a  few  weeks, 
close  it  up  and  go  away  again,  he  died  in  Musselburgh, 
Scotland,  1809. 

A  new  building  occupies  the  site  of  the  old  dram  shop, 
but  the  cellar  and  a  small  part  of  the  upstairs  still  remain. 
It  is  one  of  the  old  landmarks  of  London,  and  is  visited 
and  patronized  by  people  from  all  over  the  world. 

I  'm  afraid  I  dallied  too  long  with  Dirty  Dicks,  and  will 
have  to  cut  the  rest  of  London  very  short. 

Hampton  Court 

We  spent  most  of  a  day  at  Hampton  Court.  This 
place  was  built  by  Cardinal  Wolsey,  when  he  was  great 
i>;id  lived  like  a  king.  He  gave  it  to  Henry  VIII,  who 
lived  there  occasionally.  Cromwell  made  it  his  residence, 
William  III  did  most  for  it  and  lived  there.  All  his 
rooms  and  paintings  are  to  be  seen.  It  was  here  also 
that  the  conference  took  place,  with  James  I  presiding, 
aiid  \vhich  led  to  the  translation  of  the  Bible. 

The  palace  is  well  kept  and  guarded,  full  of  valuable 
paintings  and  works  of  art,  and  would  require  a  much 
longer  time,  to  see  it  properly,  than  we  devoted  to  it. 

The  many  other  places  that  we  visited  in  London  will 
have  to  remain  for  the  present  as  memories,  as  we  are 
due  at  Yorkshire  and  its  castles  and  abbeys. 

YORKSHIRE. 

Left  London  by  an  early  train,  and,  after  a  rapid  run, 
arrived  in  Liverpool,  where  we  were  met  by  our  Wigan 
friends.  We  looked  around  the  town  for  an  hour  or  two, 
and,  taking  another  train,  arrived  at  Wigan,  and  the 
Workhouse,  which  was  to  be  our  general  headquarters 
during  our  rambles  through  the  British  Isles. 

I  will  not  say  anything  about  this  place  at  present, 
as  our  subsequent  visits  call  for  more  notice.  We  rested 
a  day  or  so,  and  then  away  to  Settle,  in  Yorkshire.  A 
run  of  about  three  hours  brought  us  to  the  new  station 
of  this  old  town. 

WTe  were  met  by  a  nephew  of  ours,  whom  I  had  not 
for  about  29  years.  He  certainly  belongs  to  the 


68  HOW   I    DID    EUROPE 

rising  generation.  He  is  6  feet,  4  inches  high,  and  quite 
a  lot  of  him  tured  up  at  the  ankles  for  feet.  His  hands 
were  also  built  on  a  generous  plan,  as  was  his  grasp  and 
welcome.  He  soon  had  us  on  our  way  to  the  schoolhouse, 
where  he  is  head  master.  His  wife  gave  us  a  warm  wel- 
come, and  we  soon  were  at  home,  or  at  least  feeling  that 
way. 

Settle  is  a  small  town  of  about  2000  population,  and 
only  exist  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  down  the  popula- 
tion of  Giggleswick,  its  ancient  rival  on  the  opposite 
bank  of  the  river  Ribble. 

At  the"  present  time  Settle  keeps  out  of  prison  by  pre- 
tending to  have  some  scenery  and  grazing  land  on  which 
they  feast  tourists  and  sheep;  but  Giggleswick  could  be 
vagged  any  day  in  the  week  for  having  "no  visible 
means  of  support,"  other  than  a  church  and  a  history. 

There  are  so  manw  towns  and  villages  around  this  part 
of  the  country  that  a  few  words  will  have  to  be  suffice, 
where  much  should  be  written. 

Giggieswick  has  a  church  that  has  been  handed  down 
from  the  wood  and  wattles  period  of  building,  and  before 
the  time  of  the  Saxons.  On  the  same  site  a  Norman 
church  was  built.  This  was  destroyed  and  another  built, 
then  the  conquest,  the  present  one  restored  many  times, 
and  Giggleswick  is  accounted  for  in  church  history. 
Giggleswick  and  Settle  are  rival  claimants  to  other 
things.  Settle  concedes  Giggleswick  the  church  and  its 
history,  but  claims  the  Scars  and  Ebbing  and  Flow- 
ing Well.  Neither  town  claims  to  have  caused  these 
natural  wonders,  but  each  claims  the  title  to  them. 

At  the  time  of  the  Crusades  Settle  and  Giggleswick 
were  not  very  friendly.  The  soil  was  of  no  account, 
being  completely  covered  with  small  stones,  and  the 
population  of  either  burgh,  when  not  employed  gathering 
these  rocks  and  building  stone  fences  or  hedges,  were 
throwing  them  across  the  Ribble  at  each  other. 

The  Giggleswick  men,  being  somewhat  henpecked, 
joined  a  gentlemen  from  their  side  of  the  river  and  went 
away  to  kill  the  Saracen.  They  did  not  return.  The 
Settle  boys  had  in  the  meantime  been  piling  up  the  rocks 
and  clearing  the  would-be  pasture  lands,  till  they  grew 
up  to  be  big  young  men,  and  the  may-be-they-were- 
widows  waded  across  the  Ribble.  The  Settle  boys  took 


AND    HOW   IT    DID    ME  69 

them  up  on  the  Scars  and  married  them,  came  down, 
drank  at  the  Ebbing  and  Flowing1  Well,  washed  the 
Giggleswick  dnst  off  their  feet,  went  home  with  the  boys, 
and  agreed  that  here  they  would  Settle  down.  This  is 
the  origin  of  the  name,  but  Giggleswick  claims  to  have 
the  laugh  on  them  to  this  day. 

Giggleswick. 

From  the  Clapham  road  over  the  bridge  and  about 
half  a  mile  from  Settle,  the  road  turns  to  the  left  and 
down  a  steep  little  hill  for  about  one  hundred  yards,  and 
you  find  yourself  in  the  center  of  Giggleswick,  consisting 
of  one  running  street  of  old  houses.  The  street  is  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  long,  and  the  houses  are  all  ages,  from 
1631  to  say  1731.  I  want  to  be  accurate,  and  to  be  so 
I  am  inclined  to  the  belief  that  during  my  visit  they  were 
either  building,  or  restoring  a  building,  or  talking  about 
doing  so.  A  little  stream  called  the  Tames  runs  through 
the  outerpart  of  the  village. 

The  church  and  the  hotel  are  in  a  kind  of  a  square  of 
irregular  shape.  The  old  Saxon  Cross  and  the  remains  of 
the  Stone  Stocks  are  here  also.  The  hotel  is  run  by  the 
undertaker,  and  during  my  stay  a  woman  died  some- 
where near.  It  was  a  great  event  for  the  village.  The 
hearse  had  to  be  painted,  and  the  village  folks  belonging 
to  the  One  Hundred  attended.  All  events  in  the  near 
future  will  be  reckoned  from  the  funeral  of  old  Aunt 
Margaret.  Her  mother  died  25  years  before. 

The  Ebbing  and  Flowing  Well. 

The  Ebbing  and  Flowing  Well  is  noted,  and  has  been 
written  about  by  many  scientific  people.  It  is  on  the 
right-hand  side  of  the  Clapham  road,  and  about  a  mile 
from  Giggleswick.  It  ebbs  and  flows  every  five  or  ten 
minutes,  and  rises  and  falls  about  seven  inches.  At  its 
height  a  silver  cord,  or  worm,  darts  out  from  one  or 
both  sides,  drawing  back  and  darting  out  again,  like  a 
small  trout  would,  and  sometimes  goes  clear  across  the 
well  from  one  side  or  starting  from  both  sides  meets  in 
the  middle.  It  is  caused  by  the  circular  action  of  the 
water  on  its  way  to  the  well.  Th«  worm  is  air  confined, 


70  HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

and  coming  with  such  force  into  the  water  that  instead 
of  breaking  as  a  bubble,  it  acts  as  above. 

There  are  two  outlets  to  the  well,  an  upper  and  a  lower. 
The  morning  we  went  there  it  was  on  its  good  behavior. 
We  found  some  people  watching  it.  We  stepped  out 
of  the  carriage,  and  before  we  were  there  a  minute  the 
well  had  filled,  the  worm  appeared  and  went  straight 
across  a  short  distance  below  the  surface.  The  oldest 
inhabitant  being  one  of  the  observers,  assured  me  that 
it  was  the  most  perfect  action  on  the  part  of  the  well  he 
had  ever  seen.  The  well  is  walled  in  by  very  large 
flat  stones,  about  three  feet  higher  than  the  road  level, 
and  is  truly  a  wonder. 

The  Scars,  as  they  are  called,  is  a '  geological  fault, 
and  between  Settle  and  Long  Preston,  on  the  moors. 
present  a  bit  of  Switzerland  scenery.  This  last  town  is 
about  four  miles  across  the  hills  and  moors  from  Settle.  I 
enjoyed  the  walk  many  times,  through  the  heather  one 
way  and  back  by  the  road  the  other.  Long  Preston,  as  a 
town,  is  not  celebrated  for  much,  still  it  is  pretty  in  a 
way. 

Clapham  is  another  town,  or  village,  about  six  miles 
from  Settle,  and  worth  visiting.  It  has  some  pretty 
scenery,  and  a  cave  of  note.  The  village  will  not  become 
a  city,  if  the  present  owner  lives  for  a  few  hundred  years, 
as  he  has  refused  to  allow  anyone  to  acquire  land  on 
which  to  build  a  house.  He  owns  the  village  ground 
and  all  the  houses,  and  thinks  it  big  enough. 

Skipton. 

About  this  time  we  went  to  Skipton,  a  town  of  some 
pretentions,  and  has  a  castle,  old  in  history.  The  castle 
is  in  a  fine  state  of  preservation.  It  withstood  all 
attacks  till  Cromwell  came  and  he  dismantled  it  and 
knocked  off  the  roof — a  favorite  method  of  putting 
castles  out  of  commission. 

It  is  well  cared  for  at  present,  a  portion  of  it  being 
occupied  by  the  agent  of  the  owner.  We  were  conducted 
through  all  the  rooms  and  dungeons.  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots  was  one  of  the  distinguished  prisoners  cared  for 
here.  Her  room  was  shown  us,  and  in  the  court  yard 
grows  an  old  yew  tree  over  five  hundred  years  old,  under 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  II 

the  shade  of  which  Mary  used  to  sit. 

From  Skipton  we  went  to  Bolton  Abbey,  and  the 
woods,  a  distance  of  about  six  miles.  We  drove  there 
find  through  the  woods  to  the  Strid,  a  place  on  the  river 
Wharfe,  where  it  is  possible  to  step  across.  It  is  a  kind 
of  a  gorge,  the  formation  of  the  bedrock  causing  the 
water  to  force  its  way  through  a  narrow  passage.  The 
Strid  is  narrow  but  deep,  and  a  great  volumn  of  water 
passes  through.  Many  have  been  drowned  at  this  point, 
including  one  of  the  direct  heirs  of  the  British  throne, 
in  the  long  ago.  The  woods  are  large  and  beautiful,  the 
trees  are  old  and  grand,  and  the  entire  surroundings, 
including  the  Abbey,  are  as  celebrated  as  any  in  England. 

The  Abbey  proper  was  begun  in  1154  and  was  endowed 
by  lands  and  money.  This  place  was  selected  on  account 
of  the  drowning  in  the  Strid  of  the  boy  of  Egremond, 
a  grand  nephew  of  King  David  of  Scotland.  The  build- 
ing was  added  to  and  repaired  from  time  to  time,  and  was 
celebrated  for  its  hospitality  to  the  stranger  and  way- 
farer. 

It  was  dissolved  in  1539,  but  the  nave  was  spared  and 
"linreh  service  has  been  held  continuously  since  the 
foundation  of  the  Abbey,  the  only  place,  perhaps,  in 
Knuland  with  such  a  record. 

The  church  proper,  as  it  stands  today,  is  88  feet  6 
inches  long,  47  feet  10  inches  wide  and  55  feet  high.  The 
register  dates  from  1689,  and  the  first  known  minister 
was  named  Idson.  He  began  his  term  in  1603. 

The  Monastery  part  of  the  building  is  now  only  a  ruin, 
l)i it  the  old  standing  walls  show  remnants  of  splendid 
arches.  Indeed  one  or  two  are  in  a  perfect  state  of 
••rvation. 

The  grave  yard  between  the  Abbey  and  the  river  has 
a  few  old  stones,  but  not  many.  The  river  Wharfe  is 
Crossed  at  this  spot  by  the  "stepping  stones,"  57  in 
number.  They  stand  out  of  the  river  in  the  summer  time 
about  eight  inches,  but  in  the  winter  it  must  be  a  task  to 
cross  on  them.  A  bridge,  however,  has  been  built  just 
below  this  point  for  foot  passengers.  When  these  stones 
were  first  put  down  no  one  seems  to  know,  but  they 
must  be  as  old  as  the  Abbey. 

After  spending  a  pleasant  day  in  the  woods  arid  Abbey 
a  person  leaves  with  reluctance  this  place  of  peace  and 


72  HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

grandeur.  The  only  jarring  reminder  of  human  cruelty 
is  the  monument  erected  to  the  memory  of  the  late  Lord 
Cavendish  by  the  tennants  of  Bolton  Abbey  estate,  on 
which  is  recited  the  fact  of  his  murder  in  Phoenix  Park, 
Dublin,  May  6th  1882. 

The  following  day  we  motored  to  Long  Preston,  and  on 
to'  Grassington,  another  of  the  old  towns  in  Yorkshire,, 
and  about  nineteen  miles  from  Settle.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  quaint  of  towns,  with  a  history  all  its  own  running 
back  into  dreamland.  I  wandered  through  the  back 
alleys  and  into  little  squares,  in  which  I  found  old  houses 
built  in  1601,  others  that  looked  older  in  style  but 
without  dates,  and  crooked  streets  running  up  hill  and 
around  corners. 

Grassington  has  a  magic  well,  known  as  "Lady's 
Well."  In  early  days  pilgrimages  were  made  to  it  on 
account  of  its  miraculous  cures,  and  later  by  love-sick 
maidens  with  unrequited  love.  One  drink  of  water  by 
the  maiden  would  make  the  swain  have  a  couple  of  thinks: 
coming;  two  would  make  him  call  around,  and  three 
would  make  him  buy  a  ring.  I  felt  no  particular 
emotions,  so  concluded  that  no  sick  maid  was  drinking 
my  health  in  the  waters  of  the  "Lady's  Well."  We 
hurried  back  to  Settle,  for  the  morrow  was  to  start  us  to 
Chester,  and  then  to  Stratford  on  Avon,  the  home  of  the 
immortal  bard. 

CHESTER, 

Arrived  in  the  afternoon  about  two  o'clock;  had  our 
hand  baggage  taken  to  the  carriage,  and  was  about  to 
enter,  when,  looking  across  the  street,  my  eye  lighted  on 
the  Queen  Hotel,  the  place  I  had  selected.  I  tried  to  look 
wise,  and  told  the  railway  porter  to  take  iny  things  to  the 
hotel,  and  a  very  good  one  it  proved  to  be.  We  were 
both  eager  to  get  around  in  this  old  place  and  soon  had  a 
carriage,  and  went  on  our  tour  of  inspection. 

I  had  been  looking  up  some  data  before  I  arrived,  and 
from  that  I  learned  that  Chester  is  all  alone,  and  in  a 
class  by  itself,  as  an  old  English  town,  which  authentic 
history  can  be  traced  back  prior  to  the  Christian  era  and 
the  Roman  occupation,  which  took  place  in  the  early  half 
of  the  first  century  A.  D.  The  reason  for  so  many  old 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  73 

features  is  the  very  fact  of  the  long-continued  occupancy 
by  the  Romans,  which  lasted  almost  four  centuries.  The 
end  of  the  first  century  saw  walls  and  gates  built.  The 
gates  were  four  in  number.  Baths  were  established  and 
monuments  erected,  and  it  became  one  of  the  principle 
Camps  of  Rome. 

The  Romans  lost  their  grip  in  the  fifth  century,  and 
Chester  was  occupied  by  the  Romo-Britans,  and  later  by 
the  Danes.  The  town  in  the  meantime  going  down  in 
character,  both  as  to  buildings  and  civilization,  semi- 
barbarism  prevailing  in  all  the  immediate  surrounding 
country. 

In  about  907  along  came  relief  in  the  form  of  Ethel- 
freda,  daughter  of  Alfred  the  Great.  She  drove  out  the 
Danes,  and  started  house  cleaning.  She  rebuilt  the  walls 
that  had  been  battered  and  shot  to  pieces.  This  time 
good  walls  took  the  place  of  the  original  one,  which  was 
built  of  earth  and  turf.  The  city  did  well  during  her 
life,  and  she  was  succeeded  by  the  Saxon  King,  Edgar, 
who  built  a  number  of  vessels  and  established  a  naval 
fieet  close  to  the  town,  on  the  river  Dee.  He  also  held 
court  here. 

Nothing  much  happened  until  William  the  Conqueror 
came  over,  and,  after  taking  stock  to  see  if  anything  was 
missing,  made  a  present  of  it  to  one  Gherbod.  who  hap- 
pened to  be  a  prisoner  in  Flanders,  and  when  he  couldn't 
get  bail,  William  gave  the  town  to  his  nephew  Hugh 
Lupus. 

When  Henry  the  III  went  to  the  bat  he  took  Chester 
away  from  everybody,  and  gave  it  to  his  eldest  son  and 
made  him  Earl  of  Chester,  since  which  time  the  Earldom 
has  gone  to  the  heir  of  the  throne. 

The  Welsh  people  put  on  a  lot  of  airs  about  this  time 
and  came  up  to  the  city  gates  and  threw  old  tin  cans  and 
dead  cats  and  things  over  the  fence.  This  kept  up  for 
some  years.  Then  King  Edward,  after  he  got  used  to  the 
crown,  for  a  few  days  in  1272,  went  after  the  Welsh  and 
"didn't  do  a  thing  to  them."  He  stayed  over  night 
many  times  in  Chester  while  he  was  accomplishing  the 
downfall  of  the  Welshers. 

From   1643-45   it   stood   a   siege   of  the   Parlimentary 


74  HOW    I    DID    EUEOPE 

party,  and  only  surrendered  when  no  one  could  give  the 
other  even  a  hand  out. 

The  city  as  it  stands  today  looks  somewhat,  I  would 
imagine,  as  it  looked  before  the  last  siege,  with  its  old 
bridge  and  churches,  its  ancient  covered  way  and  monu- 
ments. 

The  Cathedral  never  had  a  beginning  as  a  sacred  site, 
from  a  Chester  point  of  view.  In  Roman  times  a 
Temple  of  Apollo  occupied  it,  and  this  was  built  on  the 
ruins  of  an  ancient  Druidical  shrine.  The  present,  or 
first  Christian  church  was  built  in  the  seventh  century. 
The  Saxon  and  Norman  have  left  evidence  of  their 
interest,  and  the  character  of  their  architecture  is  pre- 
served in  many  portions  of  the  building.  The  fifteenth 
century  saw  the  greatest  attempt  at  completion,  and  even 
in  that  work  of  restoring  and  rebuilding  what  were  once 
the  Capitols  and  Columns  are  now  buried  in  the  ground 
and  serving  as  bases.  The  interior  has  an  air  of  cen- 
turies ago,  the  fittings  of  old  seats  (each  one  for  some 
particular  individual  of  note)  has-  a  device  on  it.  The 
carvings  on  the  fittings  and  stone  arches,  the  ceilings,  the 
old  banners  of  the  Cheshire  regiment,  that  fought  at  the 
storming  of  Quebec,  recall  the  fact  that  in  olden  times 
the  church,  like  the  nation,  had  to  do  some  fighting,  and, 
like  the  nation,  when  it  couldnrt  find  an  enemy  on  the 
outside,  fought  within  itself. 

A  characteristic  of  olden  times  peculiar  to  Chester  is 
the  covered  way  or  rows.  The  stores  or  shops  in  some 
streets  are  so  constructed  that  you  may  walk  up  a  flight  of 
steps  landing  on  what  would  be  the  first  floor  upstairs 
and  you  find  yourself  on  a  sidewalk,  apparently,  with 
a  railing  on  the  street  side,  and  columns  rising  to  support 
the  upper  stories  of  the  buildings.  The  upstairs  sidev/alk 
is  about  10  feet  wide,  and  some  of  the  best  stores  in 
Chester  are  to  be  found  here.  You  can  walk  blocks  this 
way  in  the  rain  and  not  worry  about  the  street  crossings. 

Some  old  individual  houses  of  note  are  pointed  out: 
The  Gods  Providence  House,  on  Watergate  street,  which 
was  the  only  house  in  this  street  that  escaped  the  plague 
m  the  seventeenth  century.  The  owner  then  had  en- 
graved on  the  main  beam  of  the  house,  "Gods  Providence 
is  Mine  Inheritance." 

Another  is  Bishop  Lloyds,  the  date  1615,  and  many 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  715 

old  carvings  on  the  outside  panels  make  it  worthy  of 
inspection.  There  are  eight  panels,  and  the  engravings 
run  from  Adam  and  Eve  (without  even  the  conventional 
fig  leaf)  to  the  Crucifiction. 

In  Watergate  street  is  the  old  palace  of  the  Stanleys. 
I  went  all  through  it  and  saw  the  room  in  which  the  Earl 
of  Derby  spent  his  last  night  before  he  was  beheaded 
at  Bolton  in  1657.  The  day  before  his  death  a  messenger 
'came  to  him  and  told  him  he  would  be  expected  to  be 
ready  at  6  a.  m.  the  morrow,  to  go  to  Bolton  and  if  he 
had  any  good  friend  who  would  do  the  kind  act  for  him 
he  could  bring  him  along.  The  Earl,  asking  if  he  meant 
to  have  his  friend  cut  his  head  off,  the  messenger  replied, 
"Yes,"  thinking  it  was  a  privilege  to  have  ones  head  cut 
off  by  a  friend.  But  the  Earl  declined,  saying  if  they 
could  not  find  any  one  to  cut  his  head  off,  he  would  let  it 
stay  wrhere  it  was,  but  he  was  accomodated  the  very 
next  day. 

The  walls  of  Chester  are  supposed  to  be,  and  I  think 
they  are,  the  best  preserved  in  'the  world.  A  person 
may  walk  for  a  distance  of  about  two  miles  and  get  a 
better  view  of  the  city  than  any  other  way. 

The  river  Dee,  upon  which  the  Jolly  Miller  once  lived, 
rises  and  runs  through  Wales,  and  on  its  banks  the  town 
of  Chester  is  built.  It  is  quite  a  stream,  and  empties  into 
the  Irish  sea. 

Eaton  Hall,  the  residence  of  the  Duke  of  Westminister, 
and  considered  one  of  the  best  in  England,  is  on  the 
Dee,  about  four  miles  from  town. 

Hawarden  Castle,  the  home  of  Gladstone,  is  close  to  the 
river  and  six  miles  from  Chester. 

Hawarden  village  is  a  small  one,  but  the  church  was 
built  in  1275.  There  are  so  many  thinsrs  of  interest  in 
and  around  Chester  that  a  month  could  be  easily  and 
profitably  spent  viewing  them,  but  I  know  that  Stratford 
on  Avon  is  losing  money  every  hour  I  remain,  soo  good- 
bye Chester. 

STRATFORD    ON    AVON 

Left  Chester  at  noon,  and,  in  the  course  of  about  three 
hours,  more  or  less,  arived  at  Stratford  on  Avon,  or  the 
/birthplace  of  Shakesqeare. 

The  town,  as  it  apears  today,  is  a  clean  thrifty  looking 


76  HOW   I   DID   EUROPE 

aggregation  of  stores,  shops,  hotels,  memorial  buildings, 
historic  houses  and  trades  people. 

The  general  character  of  the  buildings  run  to  the 
Shakespeare  residence  style  of  architecture  rather  than 
the  Hathaway.  Its  present  population  is  about  9000.  It 
is  built  on  the  river  Avon,  not  a  very  large  stream,  that 
derives  its  name  and  source  from  Avon  Well  in  North- 
amptonshire. At  the  time  that  Shakespeare  was  born 
it  could  not  have  amounted  to  much,  and  its  population 
was  but  a  few  hundred. 

It  got  its  first  charter  in  the  eighth  century  as  a  Saxon 
village ;  was  incorporated  June  28,  1553,  and  about  eleven 
years  later  the  town  made  a  ten-strike  by  arranging  for 
the  birth  of  William  Shakespeare,  which  occoured  on 
April  23,  1564,  in  Henley  street.  No  particular  record 
at  present  available  tells  of  his  boyhood  days,  but  it  is 
supposed  that  he  had  -the  measles  and  whooping  cough, 
played  marbles  and  hookey,  stole  gooseberries  and  apples 
attended  school  in  the  old  Guild  halll  or  grammar  school, 
where  his  first  play  was  produced. 

He  did  not  confine  himself  to  his  own  fireside,  but  made 
goo-goo  eyes  at  a  fair  maid  of  Shottery,  named  Anne 
Hathaway,  and  she,  being  older,  saw  that  the  budding 
genius  was  the  real  thing,  closed  the  deal,  and  they  were 
married  by  contract  in  1582,  and  settled  down  to  house- 
keeping in  a  part  of  his  father's  house,  or  his  birthplace. 
He  was  only  about  18  years  old  at  this  time.  Anne  kept 
house  and  William  did  a  whole  lot  of  thinking  and  writ- 
ing, and  at  the  end  of  a  year,  another  think  was  coming, 
when  Susannnah  was  born.  William  seemed  disturbed 
for  a  few  days  and  then  made  some  notes  in  his  book 
and  turned  over  a  new  leaf. 

Nothing  startling  occoured  during  the  next  two  years 
except  that  it  was  noticed  by  the  neighbors  that  William 
was  getting  awfully  baldheaded  for  so  young  a  man, 
and  some  of  the  oldest  inhabitants  thought  the  young 
man  was  at  least  queer. 

In  1585  twins  appeared  in  Shakespeare's  family,  and 
the  wise  ones  said  "I  told  you  so,"  but  William  didn't 
seem  to  mind.  He  named  the  twins  Hammit  and 
Judith — one  happening  to  be  a  boy  and  the  other  a  girl. 

It  may  not  have  been  the  twins  that  drove  him  to  it, 
but  shortly  after  this,  he  was  arrested  for  poaching  and 


AND   HOW   IT    DID    ME  77 

brought  before  Sir  Thomas  Lucy,  at  Charlecote,  and  was 
by  some  arrangement  allowed  to  go,  whether  on  account 
of  the  twins  or  not  has  never  been  discovered;  anyhow 
he  left  the  town  and  went  to  London,  where  he  seems  to 
have  been  lost  sight  of  for  a  time.  It  seems  to  be  agreed 
that  his  wonderful  genius  had  shown  itself  before  this 
time,  and  that  neither  the  poaching  affair  nor  the  twins 
drove  him  away;  but  his  people  being  poor,  his  town 
small  and  his  family  large  in  a  small  way,  he  was  really 
compelled  to  get  out  and  dig.  He  is  supposed  to  have 
gone  abroad,  and  this  argument  is  used  to  account  for 
his  knowledge  of  foreign  customs  and  characters. 

1591  found  him  in  London,  and  prosperous.  He 
became  owner  of  his  birthplace  in  Stratford,  after  his 
father  died,  and  purchased  what  is  known  as  the  rie.v 
place  in  his  native  town.  He  grew  in  importance  and 
popularity,  and  died  on  the  23rd  of  April,  1616,  being 
the  anniversary  of  his  birth  and  at  the  age  of  52. 
'  Like  all  great  men  Shakespeare  began  to  be  appre- 
ciated when  his  writings  and  plays  were  collected  an  i 
printed,  which  did  not  occur  till  some  years  after  his 
death,  and  as  the  years  roll  on,  the  character  and  genius 
of  Shakespeare  is  attested  by  the  erection  of  memorials 
all  over  the  world,  but  especially  in  Stratford  on  Avon, 
where  he  was  born  and  where  his  remains  now  rest. 

The  town  as  far  as  memorials  and  churches,  art  and 
literature,  business  and  pleasure,  is  concerned  is  all 
Shakespeare,  and  his  memory  the  only  thing  that  ever 
happened. 

The  house  where  he  was  born  passed  to  his  sister  after 
his  death,  and  from  one  to  another  without  much  regard 
as  to  who  lived  or  died  under  its  roof. 

A  butcher  occoupied  the  place,  where  the  kitchen 
or  living  room  is,  but  the  open  fireplace  where  little 
Willie  used  to  sit  on  the  hob  and  warm  his  toes  in  winter 
is  still  preserved. 

old  windows  remain,  and  on  this  glass  surface  are  the 
names  of  Walter  Scott  and  Thomas  Carlyle  in  their  own 
hand  writing. 

The  garden  back  of  the  house  is  a  wonder  in  its  way, 
in  that  an  attempt  is  made  to  grow  every  tree  and  fruit 
and  flower  mentioned  in  his  works. 

I  left  the  place  where  he  was  born  and  went  to  the 


78  HOW    I    DID    EUROPE 

church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  where  his  remains  are  en- 
tombed inside  the  altar  rails.  The  register  is  open  at  the 
pages  that  record  the  birth  and  burial. 

The  church  is-  old,  the  central  tower  was  built  in  the 
twelfth  century,  and  the  building  completed  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  and  completely  restored  in  1890-92. 

The  memorial  building  contains  a  theatre,  and  is  lo- 
cated at  the  end  of  Chapel  Lane. 

Memorial  performances  are  held  every  april;  many 
celebrated  actors  and  actresses  have  appeared  on  these 
occasions,  and  many  are  the  pictures  and  works  of  art 
donated  to  this  building  by  artists  and  sculptors,  rich 
men  and  actors. 

Anne  Hathaway 's  Cottage  is  out  of  the  town  proper, 
at  a  place  called  Shottery.  It  is  a  common-looking 
country-thatched  affair;  has  been  restored,  and  is  sup- 
posed to  be  occupied'  by  some  of  the  descendants  of  her 
family.  A  room  is  pointed  out  as  that  which  was  oc- 
cupied by  Anne,  and  her  bed  and  an  old  chest  and  some 
furniture,  claimed  to  have  been  used  by  her,  is  shown. 

The  Shakespeare  Hotel,  "of  ye  five  gables/'  is  another 
old  relic,  and  is  the  place  where  we  put  up.  Each  room 
is  named  after  a  character  or  characters  of  Shakespeare ; 
ours'  happened  to  be  "Troilus  and  Cressida."  They  may 
have  been  all  right  in  Trojan  times,  but  their  names  did 
not  keep  the  room  warm,  so  we  had  a  fire  built.  It 
rained  against  the  widows  of  Troilus  and  Cressida,  if  we 
were  it.  I  told  Cressida,  who  did'nt  feel  well,  that  I 
would  see  about  getting  more  room,  and  a  sitting-room 
was  soon  arranged  for  and  a  fire  built.  This  room  was 
marked  Richard  III.  I  swelled  up,  called  my  wife,  or 
Cressida,  to  come  along,  for  Richard  was  himself  again. 
Poor  woman,  she  was  not  feeling  well,  having  a  bad  cold, 
but  she  looked  at  me  in  such  a  manner  as  though  she 
doubted  that  Richard  was  himself  again,  but  rather  that 
he  might  be  King  Lear.  As  I  remember,  some  of  the 
rooms  had  peculiar  and  some  significant  names:  The 
parlor  was  the  "Merry  Wives  of  Windsor;'7  the  bar- 
room, "Measure  for  Measure;;"  the  dining  room,  "As 
You  Like  It;"  the  porters  room,  "Othello  the  Moor  of 
Venice",  and  the  office  where  you  settled  your  bill  was 
marked  "The  Tempest." 

We  had  our  meals  served  in  the  sitting  room,  but  eating 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  7i> 

as  Richard  III,  and  sleeping  as  Troilus,  bothered  me  so 
much  that  after  looking  over  the  side  shows  in  the  shape 
of  relics,  we  left  Shakespeare  and  his  town,  concluding 
that  "All's  Well  That  Ends  Well." 

BELFAST. 

Arrived  on  steamer  from  Fleetwood  after  a  moonlight 
night  on  the  waters  and  comfortable  weather.  Had 
breakfast  on  board.  Took  a  carriage  and  went  to  the 
Imperial  on  Donegal  place. 

Belfast  is  the  largest  town  in  Ireland,  it  is  the  commer- 
cial centre  of  the  country,  has  a  population  of  about  400- 
000.  built  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Lagan.  A  large  part 
of  the  town  is  low,  most  of  it  lying  only  6  feet  above  sea 
level  at  high  tide,  being  largely  reclaimed  land.  The 
present  harbour  was  formerly  a  small  creek  but  by  dredg- 
ing and  building  it  is  now  one  of  the  best  in  the  country. 

Belfast  first  rubbed  the  mud  off  its  feet  and  spruced  up 
u  little  after  the  Province  of  Ulster  was  given  to  De 
Courcy.  Piesently  a  fortress  was  built  and  that  meant 
for  someone  to  dare  to  knock  it  down.  1316  saw  Edward 
Bruce  take  a  shy  at  it  and  knocked  it  galley-west,  then 
Hugh  O'Neill  and  a  few  others  took  it  back  and  forth  from 
each  other  on  legal  holidays,  or  to  celebrate  a  christening 
in  the  family.  After  a  number  of  mix  ups  it  was  forfeited 
to  the  crown,  and  in  1612  it  was  handed  over  to  Sir  Arthur 
Chichester,  the  then  Lord  Deputy,  and  his  descendants,  the 
Donegals  have  it  today.  It  seems  that  in  1613  it  got  out 
its  first  papers  from  James  I,  and  started  business  for 
keeps,  then  comes  along  James  II  and  takes  it  away  and 
gives  them  a  charter  of  his  own  brand,  with  the  name 
blown  in  the  bottle.  Then  King  William  the  III  comes 
along  and  lands  at  Carrickf ergus  and  hurries  along  to  Bel- 
fast where  it  seems  they  were  pleased  to  meet  him.  At 
that  time  the  town  consisted  of  about  300  houses,  but  they 
made  a  good  showing  and  were  nearly  all  English  settlers 
so  they  talked  the  matter  over  with  Willie  and  he  took 
away  James  the  II  's  charter  and  gave  them  back  their 
old  one  with  new  Irish  lace  trimmings  on  it.  They  kept 
on  weaving  and  doing  odd  jobs  around  and  cursing  the 
Pope  till  the  year  1888  when  Queen  Victoria  gave  them  the 
•rank  of  city,  and  in  1892  made  their  Mayor  into  a  Lord 


SO  HOW   I   DID   EUROPE 

Mayor,  since  which  time  no  Lord  Mayor  has  cursed  the 
Pope. 

The  city  had  arrived  at  that  satisfactory  state  of 
affairs  when  I  discovered  it  in  1907.  Shipping  and  ship 
building,  spinning  and  weaving  linen,  hemstiching  and 
embroidering  are  their  particularly  recognized  industries. 
The  best  streets  are  the  Royal  Avenue,  Donegal  Place  and 
High  st.  You  can  see  as  good  stores  around  those  places 
as  you  will  find  in  almost  any  town.  They  have  many 
public  buildings  that  are  good,  notably  the  City  Hall, 
finished  two  years  ago,  and  a  credit  to  the  city.  The 
exterior  is  imposing  and  is  located  on  the  site  of  the  old 
Linen  Hall  at  the  head  of  Donegal  Place.  A  statue  of 
Queen  Victoria,  standing,  is  in  front  of  the  building,  and 
sufficient  ground  space  around  the  square,  well  kept,  pre- 
vents that  crowded  appearance  to  be  met  with  in  some 
public  buildings.  The  interior  is  finished  in  varigated 
marble  and  stucco,  large  rooms  for  receptions,  meetings 
and  balls  of  an  official  character  are  provided  for,  and  the 
former  Mayors  and  Lord  Mayors  are  done  in  oil  and  are 
hung  around  the  corridors.  Many  other  buildings  and 
institutions  attract  attention  and  public  parks  are  plenti- 
ful and  well  kept. 

Robison  &  Cleaver,  manufacturers  and  retailers,  have 
quite  an  establishment  opposite  the  City  Hall  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Donegal  place.  We  went  through  and  saw  the  pro- 
cess of  manufacturing,  including  spinning,  weaving  and 
finishing.  Had  a  motor  while  here  and  drove  around,  then 
out  to  Newtownards,  about  ten  miles  from  Belfast,  where 
the  dialect  is  as  different  as  two  countries.  The  New- 
townards people  speak  with  a  broad  Scotch  accent,  they 
also  are  a  linen  centre,  principally  handkerchiefs  and  em- 
broidery. Then  we  drove  to  Grey  Abbey  an  old  ruin, 
also  destroyed  by  that  gentleman  named  Cromwell  during 
his  vacation  in  the  17th  century.  The  old  place  is  worth 
a  visit  on  account  of  its  history,  authentic  and  imaginary. 
We  drove  still  further  on  to  another  little  burgh  called 
Carrowdore,  the  houses  here  look  as  if  they  had  been 
built  centuries  ago  and  the  original  inhabitants  still  in 
possesion.  Back  to  Belfast  by  way  of  the  Cave  Hill, 
about  the  only  place  where  you  can  see  over  the  tops  of 
the  houses  unless  you  go  far  out  in  the  country.  This  hill 
rises  up  1188  feet  and  got  its  name  from  the  caves  that 


-AND   HOW   IT    DID   ME  81 

are  in  it.  The  hill  looks  good,  it  is  about  three  miles  out 
of  the  city  proper,  and  the  surrounding  country  through 
which  we  drove  had  the  appearance  of  prosperity,  the 
land  appearing  to  be  good  and  the  crops  plentif  ul,  though 
late. 

The  Giants  Causeway, 

While  making  Belfast  our  headquarters  we  also  took  in 
the  Giants  Causeway.  Took  the  train  for  Portrush,  a  little 
seaport  town  about  8  miles  from  the  Causeway,  which  is 
reached  by  electric  cars,  claimed  by  the  local  people  to 
have  been  the  first  in  the  world  to  be  operated  for  practi- 
cal purposes.  Opened  in  1883.  On  your  way  in 
this  train  you  pass  Dunluce  Castle,  an  old  ruin  on  the 
coast  about  half  way  to  the  Causeway.  Its  history  is  like 
most  of  its  kind,  stirring  and  romantic.  It  stands  on  a 
rock  about  100  feet  above  the  water,  and  in  its  time  must 
have  been  hard  to  approach,  as  the  land  side  was  almost 
surrounded  by  water.  Between  the  Castle  and  the  Cause- 
way you  pass  a  place  where  the  conductor  informed  me 
the  remains  of  the  late  Brian  Boru  are  at  rest.  I  have 
since  found  another  spot  where  the  remains  of  this  dis- 
tinguished gentleman  are  still  slumbering ;  but  perhaps  he 
rests  in  one  place  and  slumbers  in  the  other.  The  Giant's 
Punch  Bowl  and  a  Wishing  Arch  are  passed  on  the  last 
stretch,  and  after  about  an  hour's  ride  you  are  at  the 
Causeway,  that  is  to  say  after  you  have  walked  half  a  mile 
you  can  then  walk  over  the  rocks  forming  the  Causeway, 
or  take  a  boat,  or  both.  We  took  a  boat,  as  the  water  was 
calm  and  we  wanted  to  see  the  cave  which  can  only  be  seen 
by  going  in  the  boat.  We  visited  the  cave  first.  To  reach 
the  boat  you  must  clamber  down  a  rather  steep  path  over 
rocks,  and  when  you  reach  the  boat,  to  get  aboard  requires 
care  on  the  part  of  a  lady,  but  once  seated  and  around  the 
bend  of  rocks  you  are  at  the  cave  and  repaid  for  the 
trouble. 

The  entrance  is  wide  enough  and  lofty,  it  is  arched  over 
in  something  of  a  gothic  style,  and  is  about  30  or  40  feet 
high,  the  width  I  should  imagine  to  be  about  20  feet  at 
the  entrance.  It  was  low  tide  when  we  went  in  and  had 
the  advantage  of  seeing  it  in  all  its  beauty.  Iron  or  oxide 
of  iron  is  in  the  rocks  and  the  water  action  has  made  the 


82  HOW   I   DID   EUROPE 

rocks  at  low  tide  a  pretty  red  colour,  and  through  crevices 
in  the  top  of  the  arch  the  same  coloring  is  to  be  seen  and 
lends  an  added  beauty  to  its  appearance.  After  coming 
out  we  rowed  around  tv>  a  place  where  we  got  our  first 
glimpse  of  the  Causeway  proper,  and  after  having 
read  about  it  and  admired  the  photographs  of  it, 
the  first  sight  is*  disappointing.  It  looks  altogether 
squatty  from  what  you  had  imagined,  and  it  is  only  after 
some  thought  and  a  closer  inspection  that  the  truly  won- 
derful nature  of  the  formation  begins  to  bring  you  around 
to  a  thoroughly  satisfied  condition  of  mind.  The  Giant's 
chimney  tops.,  three  in  number,  take  away  some  of  the  bad 
effect  of  the  first  impression.  Then  the  organ  and  the  old 
woman  climbing  up  hill,  the  amphitheatre  and  columns- 
themselves  all  pointed  out  to  you  by  the  boatman  gradual- 
ly bring  you  back  to  a  realization  of  the  fact  that  you  are 
looking  at  a  great  work  of  nature. 

The  story  told  about  the  formation  is  as  follows:  One 
Fin  Mac  Coul  was  the  champion  of  Ireland,  and  about  this 
time  there  was  also  a  champion  in  Scotland  who  was  hav- 
ing things  his  own  way,and  having  heard  about  Fin  sent 
over  word  that  if  it  were  not  for  wetting  his  feet  he  would 
go  over  and  give  him  a  licking.  This  got  Fin's  Irish  up 
and  he  went  to  the  King  asking  for  permission  to  build  a 
road  for  the  Scot  to  come  over  on ;  the  request  was  grant- 
ed and  Fin  built  the  road.  The  Scot  came  over,  affairs- 
were  arranged,  a  referee  agreed  on,  the  winner  to  take  the 
entire  gate  receipts,  there  were  no  preliminaries  in  those 
days,  so  they  got  busy.  The  Scot  it  seems  feinted  with  his 
left  and  Fin  landed  with  his  right  and  the  Scot  fainted  all 
over.  The  King  called  off  the  seconds  and  declared  the 
Scot  out.  Time  1-30.  Fin  then  stepped  to  the  Scot's  corner, 
gave  him  a  glass  of  Irish  whiskey,  he  woke  up  and  they 
shook  hands.  He  acknowledged  that  Fin  beat  him  fair, 
and  Fin  assuring  the  press  reporters  that  the  Scot  was  the 
hardest  man  he  ever  met,  the  Scot  married  into  Finn's 
family  and  they  both  went  on  the  road  together.  The 
road  to  Scotland  not  being  necessary,  nature,  at  the  re- 
quest of  Fin,  destroyed  it  all  but  the  Causeway  where  it 
began. 

In  formation  it  is  Basalt  and  is  said  to  contain  40,000 
columns  averaging  20  feet  high,  broken  in  short  sections 
of  a  few  feet.  The  sections  are  connected  by  concave  and 


AND   HOW   IT   DID   ME  83 

convex  joints,  the  stones  are  either  five  or  six  sided  and 
about  20  inches  in  diameter.  One  portion  stands  up 
higher  than  the  rest  and  shows  columns  about  30  feet  high. 
Geology  explains  the  cause  of  the  formation,  but  it  is  good 
to  look  at  and  know  that  nature  is  still  a  pretty  good  me- 
chanic when  it  comes  to  making  things  fit  together,  as  the 
columns  are  as  perfectly  formed  as  a  mechanic  could  fit 
on  a  small  scale. 

The  amphitheatre  is  a  semi-circular  affair,  said  to  be  the 
theatre  of  the  giants,  it  is  a  good  semi-circle  and  large, 
about  as  large  as  the  amphitheatre  at  Rome,  more  or  less, 
as  I  did  not  measure  either. 

The  Wishing  Chair  is  a  particular  stone  on  which  you 
sit  down,  close  your  eyes  and  think  you're  thinking. 
Anything  you  wish  for  when  you  are  on  the  rocks  will 
surely  come  to  pass,  more  or  less. 

The  Causeway  has  to  grow  on  a  person,  which  it  does. 
When  you  first  see  it  you  consider  it  a  baby  in  arms,  when 
you  leave  it  you  think  it  will  do,  and  after  you  think  some 
more  you  realize  that  it  is  truly  a  wonderful  piece  of 
nature's  handiwrk. 

We  arrived  safely  in  Belfast  and  started  to  take  in 
Portadown,  Lough  Neagh,  Gilford,  Tanderagee  and 
Armagh. 

Arrived  in  Portadown  somewhere  about  11  a.  m.,  visited 
the  market;  it  was  a  fair  day;  had  lunch  at  the  Imperial 
Hotel;  got  an  Irish  jaunting  car,  the  first  my  wife  had 
ridden  on.  She  wanted  to  be  in  some  small  place  to  take  a 
chance.  She  did  not  take  kindly  to  it  at  first  but  after  a 
little  became  quite  an  expert  at  remaining  on  the  seat. 
We  drove  through  the  country  to  a  place  called  Mag- 
hery,  the  fishing  village.  We  wanted  to  get  some  fish 
but  it  was  Saturday  and  all  had  been  sent  to  town.  The 
fish  is  called  Pollen,  it  is  peculiar  to  Lough  Neagh.  This 
is  the  lake  about  which  Moore  wrote  on  Lough  Neagh 
banks,  etc.  Tradition  says  that  when  the  Isle  of  Man 
appeared  that  Lough  Neagh  was  formed,  and  that  on  fine 
days  the  tops  of  the  houses  sunk  in  the  lake  can  be  seen, 
however,  it  is  the  largest  fresh  water  lough  in  Great 
Britain. 

We  drove  back  and  saw  many  pretty  houses,  thatched 
and  otherwise.  Maghery  seemed  dirty  but  out  in  the 
country  proper  most  of  the  houses  were  pictures  of  neat- 


84  HOW   I   DID   EUKOPE 

ness,  no  matter  how  poor.  All  whitewashed  and  invari- 
ably a  little  growing  plant  inside  one  or  more  of  the 
windows. 

Portadown  has  a  population  of  about  10,000,  and  its 
principle  industry  is  spinning  and  weaving  linen. 

Next  morning,  Sunday,  we  took  another  Jaunting  car 
and  started  for  Gilford  about  five  miles  distant.  It 
is  an  old  town  and  has  a  spool  thread  works  and  spinning: 
mill,  also  Gilford  Castle.  The  drive  to  it  is  pretty, 
principally  through  demesne,  a  contrast  from  yesterday's 
drive  which  was  all  through  cottage  property.  The  town 
itself  is  not  much  but  we  wanted  to  go  there  and  take  in 
Tanderagee  where  the  Duke  of  Manchester  has  his  castle 
which,  we  found,  his  father-in-law,  Mr.  Zimmerman,  had 
either  bought  or  taken  from  him.  I  saw  this  place 
as  well  as  the  others  30  years  ago  and  the  only  change 
worthy  of  mention  is  the  change  Mr.  Zimmerman's  money 
has  wrought  in  the  castle. 

We  drove  back  to  Portadown,  as  was  necessary  to 
get  on  the  road  to  Armagh.  I  particularly  wanted  to 
see  this  place  on  account  of  its  peculiar  Irish  history, 
it  having  played  a  very  important  part  in  church  and 
other  affairs. 

We  started  about  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  and 
after  driving  9  Irish  miles  and  occouping  a  little  over 
one  hour  doing  it,  we  brought  up  at  the  Beresford  Hotel 
where  we  had  lunch.  Before  we  arrived,  however,  the 
driver  informed  us  that  a  Notionalist  Meeting  was  to 
be  held  at  Armagh  that  day  and  that  a  great  procession 
would  be  seen,  and  great  speakers  speak.  And  sure 
enough  we  were  just  seated  at  lunch  in  the  Dining  Room 
on  the  second  floor  when  the  manager  came  to  us  and 
said  he  would  pull  the  table  out  from  the  window  so 
that  we  could  see  the  procession  pass.  We  were  in 
good  luck,  as  it  all  passed  right  in  front  and  I'm  sure 
all  windows  elsewhere  were  occupied.  The  procession 
was  a  corker  and  was  composed  of  the  Hibernians,  the 
Foresters  of  Ireland  and  many  others  that  I  could  not 
understand.  Banners,  drums,  and  fife  and  brass  bands, 
all  had  a  show  and  old  King  William  would  have  turned 
over  in  his  grave  had  he  known  of  it,  and  Cromwell 
would  surely  have  wanted  to  demolish  another  abbey 


AND   HOW   IT   DID    ME  85 

had  he   ever  contemplated   such   a   procession. 

John  Redmond  and  other  Irish  Nationalists  of  note 
addressed  the  meeting  on  a  hill  outside  the  town  and 
had  a  good  time.  On  the  way  back  a  few  had  taken 
a  teaspoon  too  much,  but  still  could  keep  up  the  pro- 
fession. 

I  visited  St  Patrick's  Cathaderal  and  found  it  to  be 
a  Protestant  Cathedral,  and  the  Roman  Catholic,  or 
Armagh  Cathedral,  a  new  church  only  finished  two 
years  ago.  Old  St  Patrick's  is  the  place  I  wanted  to 
see,  so  I  got  a  guide  from  the  hotel  and  off  we  started 
but  I  found  out  he  knew  where  the  church  was  and  that 
was  all.  I  could  tell  him  more  about  it  myself  than  he 
ever  heard  of  because  I  had  become  interested  in  its 
history. 

Armagh  it  seems  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  import- 
ant of  the  towns  of  Ireland,  from  a  Christian  point  of 
view.  It  would  appear  from  what  I  can  find  out  that 
300  B.  C.  a  woman  who  seemed  to  have  woman's  rights 
down  to  a  science,  and  who  was  known  as  Queen  Macha 
of  the  Golden  Hair,  founded  a  palace  and  called  it  Ard 
Macha,  or  the  Hill  of  Macha.  She  was  the  first  and 
only  queen  who  ruled  in  Ireland.  Somebody  on  the 
outside  said  something  about  her  hair  and  a  war  ensued 
and  she  fell  in  battle  and  was  buried  here  at  a  place 
now  known  as  Navanfort,  about  two  miles  from  Armagh. 
This  gave  the  place  a  good  boost  for  the  time  being,  but 
dull  times  followed  and  it  was  run  down  more  or  less 
for  a  while,  but  gradually  picked  up  and  was  getting 
along  nicely  in  a  pagan  way,  when  from  Dnmbarton, 
Scotland,  St.  Patrick  appeared  on  the  scene,  not  as  St. 
Patrick,  but  as  a  youth  and  a  Scot  slave,  so  I  learned.  He 
landed  on  the  coast  of  Antrim  and  went  to  the  west, 
and  the  next  heard  of  him  was  in  France  as  a  student 
at  the  school  of  St.  Martin  of  Tours.  His  next  landing 
in  Ireland  was  at  Strangford  Lough  whence  he  proceeded 
to  convert  the  people  of  Ulster.  In  423  he  met  the  then 
King  and  Druids  at  the  royal  hill  of  Tara  in  a  conference 
concerning  the  Christian  religion.  He  then  proceeded 
to  build  his  first  great  church  at  Armagh  on  the  site  of 
the  present  St.  Patricks  Cathedral.  He  had  hard  work 
getting  a  site  for  his  first  church  from  the  old  man  Duire 
who  was  boss  of  the  first  ward  at  the  time,  and  a  fierce  old 


86  HOW   I   DID   EUEOPE 

dyed  in  the  wool  democrat.  He  refused  at  first  to  grant 
any  land  on  which  to  build,  but  finally  let  St.  Patrick 
take  an  old  hill  covered  with  rushes  where  he  proceeded 
to  build,  and  so  well  that  around  this  first  church  schools 
of  learning  sprang  up  and  from  which  issued  some  of 
the  best  learned  men  of  the  following  generations  and 
up  till  about  the  9th  or  10th  centuries,  when  the  Danes 
came  over  and  upset  everything,  knocking  Armagh  galley 
west  in  three  or  four  different  languages. 

The  church  was  rebuit  in  1268,  only  to  be  destroyed 
by  the  O'Neills  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  and  again  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  I.  It  was  restored  many  times 
since  and  little  of  the  original  is  left  but  some  of  it  is 
still  incorporated  in  the  present  building.  The  body  of 
Brian  Boru  is  claimed  to  lie  under  the  chancel,  but  I 
was  shown  another  favorite  burying  spot  where  he  is 
also  interred. 

It  seems  almost  beyond  belief  that  St.  Patrick  was 
never  really  canonized  as  a  saint  at  Rome,  and  that  he 
never  went  into  the  South  to  preach,  but  sent  disciples. 
Where  he  banished  the  snakes  from  Ireland  was  at  a 
place  called  Croagh  Patrick. 

Armagh,  through  the  efforts  and  work  of  St.  Patrick, 
has  always  been  the  head  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church 
in  Ireland,  the  Primate  of  Ireland  having  his  See  there 
today.  His  residence  and  the  new  cathedral  erected 
lately  are  worthy  of  the  primacy.  I  visited  the  Cathe- 
dral and  it  can  boast  of  mosaic  work  on  its  walls  that 
can  compare  favorably  with  any  in  Italy. 

Got  back  to  Portadown,  had  dinner,  and  caught  the 
train  for  Belfast,  where  we  arrived  about  10  at  night 
well  pleased  with  the  outing. 

KILLARNEY. 

After  passing  through  a  number  of  towns,  stopping  at 
Dublin  to  rest  and  look  around,  arrived  at  the  far-famed 
Killarney,  took  a  car,  and  after  driving  through  the 
town  and  about  a  mile  and  a  half  into  the  country,  pulled 
up  at  the  Lake  Hotel  on  the  banks  of  the  Lower  Lake, 
and  was  assigned  to  a  room  on  the  water  side. 

I  am  through  with  my  visit,  and  have  looked  back 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  87 

over  it  all  and  am  well  pleased  with  its  scenery,  interested 
in  its  history,  amused,  entertained,  pleased,  gratified 
and  mad  at  its  inhabitants. 

I  was  very  much  interested  in  learning  that  the  County 
of  Kerry,  in  which  the  lakes  are  planted,  was  the  first 
spot  in  Ireland  to  be  inhabited,  and  lest  there  should 
be  any  doubt  about  it  here  is  when  and  how  it  happened : 
250  years  after  the  flood  on  the  14th  day  of  May,  a 
gentleman  by  the  name  of  Parthoian,  landed  in  the 
west  of  Munster;  he  was  accompanied  by  the  following: 
Slaing,  Laighlinne  and  Rudhruldhe,  (his  theree  sons)  and 
Dealgnab,  Nerbha,  Ciolcbha  and  Cerbuad,  (their  four 
wives).  It  seems  they  began  their  journey  in  the  middle 
of  Greece,  and  steered  towards  Sicily,  leaving  Spain 
and  landing  as  above. 

After  getting  a  clean  bill  of  health  from  the  quar- 
antine officers,  and  showing  that  they  had  no  dutiable 
goods  in  their  possession,  were  landed.  This  was  Cook's 
first  tourist  party  and  the  beginning  of  the  company. 
The  old  man  when  he  first  saw  the  lake  said  "Oh!"  and 
the  balance  of  the  family  gave  him  that  name.  This 
accounts  for  the  O'Sullivans,  O 'Councils,  etc.  The 
family  grew  and  spread  all  over  the  country,  but  the  real 
descendants  of  the  best  elements  of  the  family  continued 
to  live  in  the  County  Kerry,  and  the  very  best  of  them 
made  their  homes  around  Killarney. 

When  they  found  out  the  lakes  were  so  beautiful 
they  thought  of  advertising,  but  America  had  not  been 
discovered,  and  they  agreed  to  build  abbeys  and  mon- 
asteries, so  that  when  America  in  future  centuries  should 
have  been  discovered  and  peopled  with  millionaires  they 
would  have  something  old  as  well  as  beautiful  to  show 
them  in  exchange  for  all  they  could  get.  This  mueh- 
desired  condition  of  affairs  was  in  first-class  working 
order  when  we  arrived. 

The  Gap  of  Dunloe. 

This  should  be  seen  by  every  American  tourist,  not 
because  it  beats  all  the  other  places,  but  because  you  can 
get  beat  better  here  than  any  other  place,  and  this  is  the 


88  HOW   I   DID 

only  place  I  beat  at  Killarney  for  I  did  not  get  through 
the  gap. 

I  had  made  all  arrangements  with  the  hotel  keeper 
to  take  myself  and  wife  by  private  car  and  boat  for  this- 
day's  excursion,  he  told  me  how  much,  and  all  was  satis- 
factory, but  he  could  not  take  us  through  the  gap,  as  that 
was  controlled  by  other  people,  but  the  fare  through 
would  be  half  a  crown  each  on  horseback  or  low-back 
car.  All  right,  we  wanted  the  low-back,  so  we  started 
off. 

After  passing  through  the  town  the  first  object  I  saw 
on  driving  up  a  little  hill  was  an  old  man  with  a  flute 
playing  "The  Wearing  of  the  Green,"  at  as  much  as 
you  cared  to  throw  him. 

We  drove  for  almost  a  mile  without  meeting  anybody 
who  wanted  to  give  a  way  postal  cards  or  socks  for  half 
of  what  they  cost,  but  towards  the  approach  to  Kate 
Kearney's  cottage,  say  for  the  last  three  miles,  we  en- 
countered squadrons  of  flying  cavalry,  each  intent  on 
selling  you  his  horse  under  the  pretense  that  he  was  only 
charging  you  hire  for  riding  him  through  the  gap. 

I  got  rid  of  a  few  regiments  and  detachments  with  the 
anouncement  that  we  were  going  through  on  a  low-back 
car.  Then  each  one  had  a  low-back  car,  and  so  it 
continued.  What  with  ponies,  low-back  cars  on  the  part 
of  the  gentlemen  of  the  road,  and  postal  cards,  socks, 
bog  oak,  and  plain  begging  on  the  part  of  the  ladies  that 
were,  a  most  enjoyable  few  miles  were  put  in,  after  which 
we  pulled  up  at  Kate  Kearney's  cottage  and  the  en- 
trance to  the  gap. 

We  were  told  to  alight  and  enter  the  former  abode  of 
that  celebrated  beauty,  which  we  did,  and  found  her 
successor  a  most  wonderful  creation.  She  had  a  mother 
apparently,  which  was  reasonable,  and  the  mother  of 
the  present  Kate  was  a  retailer  of  curios  consisting  of 
articles  of  alleged  oak  bog,  Irish  chinaware,  etc.  It  has 
not  necessary  to  buy  any  of  the  aforesaid  articles,  but 
it  was  desirable. 

She  did  not  insist  on  selling  her  wares,  but  showed 
them  in  such  a  manner  that  you  were  convinced  that  it 
was  no  trouble  to  show  goods.  We  bought,  not  on 
account  of  the  possible  bargain  day  which  we  were 
fortunate  enough  to  bump  into,  but  because  we  were 


AND   HOW   IT   DID   ME  89 

supposed  to  want  the  goods.  Her  daughter  was  a  worthy 
successor  of  the  celebrated  Kate,  if  the  former  Kate  was 
a  dispenser  of  the  re#l  thing  with  pure  cows  milk  mixed. 
Sure  it  kept  out  the  cold  and  rain  and  warmed  the 
cockels  of  your  heart.  I  indulged,  who  wouldn't? 

In  the  meantime  I  took  a  look  around  while  our  driver 
was  arranging  for  that  celebrated  "Low-back  car'' 
which  we  were  assured  would  be  on  hand  to  convey,  or 
convoy,  us  through  the  gap. 

After  waiting  an  unusual  length  of  time,  and  buying 
an  unnecessary  amount  of  the  creature  and  other  com- 
forts of  that  abode,  we  were  informed  that  the  car  was 
in  waiting.  We  stepped  outside  to  view  the  famous 
rig  that  was  to  convey  us  over  the  pass,  and  beheld  a 
wagon  with  two  wheeels  and  a  horse  with  the  necessary 
number  of  legs  awaiting. 

The  wagon  was  the  most  primative  and  the  horse  the 
most  up-to-date  in  tail,  legs  and  head.  A  bag  of  hay 
\\  as  placed  in  the  wagon,  and  we  were  supposed  to  sit 
on  that  low-back  car.  We  demurred.  They  expected 
we  would. 

A  small  army  gathered  after  we  had  pronounced  the 
thing  impossible,  they  were  determined  we  should  ride 
their  ponies  at  their  price,  and  I  was  determined  that  we 
would  not.  The  end  came  when  I  assisted  my  wife  to 
get  aboard  of  the  car  we  came  on,  and,  taking  a  seat 
on  the  opposite  side,  ordered  the  driver  to  drive  back 
to  the  hotel. 

The  loss  of  a  fare,  either  by  horse  or  by  any  other 
means,  staring  the  gang  in  the  face,  was  too  much 
for  them.  Then  the  man  who  went  after  the  low-back 
car  got  three  pence  for  his  trouble,  and  the  fellow 
\vlio  wanted  to  bugle  for  the  echoes  in  the  pass  was 
passed  out  a  shilling  with  the  hope  that  this  echo  would 
be  his  last.  The  gang  still  insisting  that  we  ride  the 
ponies,  I  ordered  the  driver  home. 

We  started,  and  the  return  trip  was  about  the  same 
HS  the  coming.  We  had  our  own  way,  however,  and 
arrived  at  the  hotel.  The  horses,  the  driver  and  myself 
at  outs.  I  ordered  a  car  for  one  of  the  so-called  long 
drives  and  had  a  most  enjoyable  afternoon,  taking  in 


90  HOW   I   DID   EUROPE" 

many   of   the   places   of   interest   that   we   might   have 
otherwise  omitted. 

In  the  evening  I  met  at  our  hotel  a  number  of  Americans 
who  had  taken  the  Gap,  and  the  language  they  used  to- 
describe  their  experience  would  simply  make  the  paper 
sizzle.  I  was  informed  that  when  they  onee  got  aboard 
the  horses  and  started,  at  intervals  of  about  thirty  yards, 
they  were  stopped,  or  at  least  the  horses,  were,  which 
meant  the  same  tiling,  by  old  or  young  women  who 
had  for  sale  socks  which  nobody  could  wear,  curios: 
nobody  wanted,  and  relics  which  everybody  doubted, 
and  when  the  end  of  the  journey  was  reached  they 
summed  up  as  follows:  Paid  out  about  16  shillings  each 
and  nothing  to  show  for  it. 

The  Lakes. 

The  lakes  are  beautiful,  three  in  number,  (the  upper,, 
middle  and  lower)  dotted  with  small  islands  and  con- 
nected with  each  other  and  surrounded  by  mountains- 
that  are  grand  in  their  rugged  bareness  of  peak  or  forest 
covered  sloping  sides.  We  drove  through  the  most 
pleasant  forest  scenery  around  the  lakes  and  boated  on 
the  waters  from  the  hotel  on  the  lowei  lake  to  the  middle 
and  upper,  shooting  the  rapids  under  the  old  weir 
bridge,  resting  at  the  meeting  of  the  waters,  and  re- 
turning by  the  opposite  side  which  showed  the  shore 
rocks  worn  into  most  peculiar  shapes  of  column  and 
cave  by  the  action  of  the  waters,  landed  on  Innisfalen, 
and  visited  the  ruined  shrine. 

The  island  has  been  described  as  the  most  beautiful 
spot  in  the  world.  The  monestery  is  gone  and  most  of 
the  Abbey.  A  few  walls  remain  standing. 

The  island  itself  is  pretty,  and  when  occupied  mu^t 
have  been  all  that  has  been  said  about  it.  In  about  the 
center  is  a  spot  where  it  is  said  were  buried  in  olden 
times  the  Abbots  and  Monks.  A  slab  is  pointed  out  as 
covering  this  sacred  ground,  and  around  about  it  grows 
an  old  yew  tree  as  if  to  protect  it.  The  slab  is  plainly 
in  view  under  the  tree.  This  old  monastery  was  built 
in  the  6th  century  and  the  abbey  in  the  7th,  worn  by 
age  and  troublous  times,  it  was  destroyed  and  restored 


AND   HOW   IT   DID    ME  91 

at  different  periods  until  it  was  finally  sent  the  way  of 
all  monasteries  by  Cromwell. 

Muckross  Abbey. 

Muckross  Abbey  we  visited  by  jaunting  car.  It  is  one 
of  the  best  preserved  of  any  of  the  abbeys  we  have  seen 
yet,  being  in  charge  of  an  attendant  and  preserved  by 
the  Antiquary  Society.  It  was  founded  in  1340  sup- 
pressed in  1542,  renovated  in  1602  and  destroyed  in  1652. 
It  is  yet  two  stories  high  and  contains  many  old  stones 
inside  under  which  some  of  the  most  distinguished 
people  of  the  lakes  are  quietly  resting. 

Ross  Castle. 

Ross  Castle  is  another  place  on  the  lower  lake  where 
we  drove  to.  It  is  pleasantly  situated  on  the  water 
edge.  I  went  to  look  and  a  guardian  asked  me  if  I 
wanted  to  go  in.  I  did,  and  coughed  up  3d.  for  the 
privilege  of  climbing  94  stone  steps.  The  view  from 
the  top,  however,  paid  for  the  exertion.  This  castle 
was  the  fort  of  O'Donoghue.  He  is  said  to  lie  enchanted 
at  the  bottom  of  the  lake  surrounded  by  his  people,  and 
once  every  seven  years  he  is  to  be  seen  on  May  mornings 
riding  across  the  lake  on  a  white  steed  and  the  person 
who  sees  him  will  ever  after  be  lucky.  None  of  the 
people  who  told  me  about  this  had  ever  seen  him. 

Tore  Waterfall  is  off  the  driveway  about  200  yards 
through  the  woods,  at  the  entrance  of  which  stands  a 
gate  and  a  man.  The  gate  is  ajar  but  the  man  is  not, 
it  requires  9d.  to  see  the  waterfall,  which  goes  to  show 
that  even  nature  will  not  work  unless  paid  for.  The 
falls  are  certainly  pretty,  in  a  nice  secluded  spot,  they 
come  tumbling  over  the  rocks  in  three  distinct  streams, 
which  unite  and  flow  again  over  the  next  ledge  and  then 
break  into  many  parts  unto  jagged  rocks,  meeting  finally 
in  the  stream  below. 

Eagles  Nest. 

The  Eagles  Nest  is  to  be  seen  from  most  places,  it  is 
a  high  bluff  but  not  the  highest  peak  as  I  imagined  it 


92  HOW   I   DID   EUEOPE 

would  be.  It  is  only  1100  feet,  but  on  account  of  its 
boldness  looks  prominent.  The  highest  peak  of  the 
mountains  around  the  lakes  is  3414  feet  The  Devils 
Bite  is  a  fault  or  bite  in  the  mountain,  it  shows  very 
plainly  and  looks  as  if  a  piece  had  actually  been  taken 
out. 

The  story  told  is  that  Brian  Boru  was  driving  the 
Devil  out  of  Ireland  and  they  had  a  fight  on  this  moun- 
tain the  devil  claiming  the  right  to  stay  there,  but  Brian 
got  the  best  of  him,  and  in  his  anger  at  his  defeat  the 
devil  bit  this  piece  out  of  the  mountain  so  that  he  might 
carry  some  part  of  Ireland  home  with  him  as  a  souvenir, 
like  the  American  tourist,  but  Brian  got  a  half  Nelson 
on  the  devil  and  made  him  drop  the  bite  which  fell  in  the 
lake  near  the  rock  of  the  Coleen  Bawn. 

Devil's  Punch  Bowl. 

The  Devil's  Punch  Bowl  is  a  natural  reservoir  2,000 
feet  high,  from  which  Killarney  town  gets  its  water,  it 
has  never  been  known  to  freeze  over  and  yet  it  is  like 
ice  water  in  summer. 

Dina's  Cottage. 

Dina's  Cottage  is  a  pretty  place  where  people  gen- 
erally land  for  a  few  minutes  after  coming  through  the 
Weir  bridge  and  the  meeting  of  the  waters.  You  can 
buy  a  cup  of  tea  and  bog  oak  or  either  separately. 

Glengarriff. 

The  following  morning  at  10  a.  m.,  the  coach  for 
Glengarriff  pulled  up  at  the  hotel  and  we  were  soon 
aboard,  having  previously  engaged  the  box  seats  along 
side  of  the  driver,  who  proved  to  be  a  good  natured  old 
native  with  the  necessary  amount  of  wit  highly  seasoned 
with  blarney.  He  and  I  soon  became  friends  in  a  good 
natured  joshing  way.  He  knew  the  road  well  and  his 
horse  better,  and  when  he  was  not  talking  to  the  pas- 
sengers, he  was  either  coaxing,  flattering  or  threatening 
his  horses. 

A  passenger  just  behind  us — an  American,  of  course, 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  93 

with  a  camera — was  taking  farewell  snap  shots  at  the 
lakes  from  every  point  of  view,  sometimes  when  the 
coach  was  going:,  and  always  when  it  stopped  either  to 
allow  us  to  admire  the  view  or  rest  the  horses. 

The  last  snap  shot  our  friend  took  the  old  driver  re- 
marked :  Sure,  it 's  a  wonder  there 's  a  bit  of  it  left  at  all 
at  all,  so  many  of  the  Americans  do  be  taking  it  away 
with  them.  I  think  the  old  man  must  have  a  bit  of 
sarcasm  in  his  composition,  as  the  snap  shot  man  had 
requested  the  driver  to  stop  a  few  times  to  enable  him 
to  get  a  better  picture  of  the  lakes,  and  the  driver  was 
becoming  a  little  tired  of  this  experience. 

The  drive  was  through  a  rough  but  picturesque 
country,  wild  and  unkept,  as  were  most  of  the  natives 
we  met.  About  the  only  habitable  abode  we  saw  in  a 
long  stretch  of  country  was  a  police  barricks.  Rocks 
here  and  peat  bogs  there,  huts  scattered  or  grouped,  but 
of  the  most  primative  character. 

This  character  of  country  continued  for  about  an 
hour  and  a  half,  when  we  pulled  up  at  a  roadside  house 
where,  as  the  driver  said,  we  would  spoil  about  five 
minutes  in  one  way  or  another.  Some  of  us  alighted, 
and  a  gentleman  who  seemed  to  know  what  he  was 
talking  about  told  me  that  there  might  be  bad  whisky 
sold  in  Ireland,  but  it  was  not  to  be  had  in  there.  I 
;isked  him  to  go  in  and  take  a  chance;  he  said  he  didn't 
tell  me  that  to  get  me  to  ask  him,  but  since  I  wished  it 
he  wouldn't  refuse. 

The  country  continued  mountainous  and  rolling,  with 
a  cultivated  bit  here  and  there,  till  we  neared  Kinmare, 
which  we  reached  at  about  half  past  one. 

This  is  a  pretty  little  place  with  a  good  hotel  where  we 
had  lunch.  The  scenery  around  here  is  good,  fishing 
and  hunting  attract  many,  and  lace  making  at  the 
Convent  of  Poor  Clares  is  of  such  a  fine  quality  that  it 
keeps  the  name  before  the  public. 

We  were  soon  on  our  way  again,  and  after  some  more 
climbing,  passed  out  of  County  Kerry  to  that  of  Cork 
through  a  tunnel  in  the  Esk  mountains.  The  tunnel 
is  wet  and  sloppy,  cold  and  drafty,  and  it  was  a  pleas- 
ant surprise  on  emerging  from  the  Cork  end  to  find  a 
cottage  and  a  warm  cup  of  tea — that's  all.  We  rattled 
along,  our  old  driver  chirping,  hissing,  talking  and 


<)4  HOW   I   DID    EUROPE 

fussing  with  his  horses,  till  about  six  o'clock  when  we 
made  a  turn  in  the  road,  rattled  up  the  hill,  and  were  in 
Glengarriff,  deposited  the  mail  and  the  passengers  who 
were  going  to  stop  at  the  down  town  hotel. 

We  then  drove  on  and  out  into  the  country  thrugh 
scenery  that  equals  if  it  does  not  eclipse  Killarney.  A 
run  of  about  a  mile  brought  us  to  Roaches,  where  we 
stopped  for  the  night  after  a  drive  of  44  miles. 

The  hotel  and  fare  were  good,  but  even  had  they 
not  been,  the  scenery  around  is  of  such  a  character  that 
we  would  have  forgotten  our  creature  comforts  for  the 
grandeur  of  the  panorama  of  water,  earth  and  sky. 
Glengarriff  has  been  so  much  written  about  that  I  won't 
say  more  than  to  add  that  all  I  have  thought  or  said 
about  Killarney  can  be  applied  to  it — cutting  out  the 
profanity. 

The  next  day  saw  us  on  our  way  to  Bantry  over  a  road 
that  leads  through  a  country  of  rocks  and  quarries  of 
slate,  rivers  and  streams,  with  Bantry  Bay  almost  always 
in  sight.  Some  farming  land  adds  a  friendly  appear- 
ance to  the  landscape  and  the  running  of  children  after 
the  coach  every  once  in  a  while  reminds  you  that  you 
are  still  in  the  country  where  the  future  pony  drivers 
are  being  raised  for  the  Gap  of  Dunloe. 

A  three  hours'  drive  brought  us  to  the  town  of  Bantry. 
A  small  town  with  quite  a  history.  It  consists  of  one 
long  street  called  Barrack  street,  I  think,  and  at  right 
angles  with  this  is  another  leading  to  the  bay.  The 
houses  are  ordinary,  mostly  one,  two  and  three  storys — 
old  style  one-stories  with  thatched  roofs,  and  the  two  and 
three  with  slate  roofs. 

Bantry  Bay  was  entered  by  the  French  in  1689  to  aid 
James  II,  and  again  in  1796  to  aid  Ireland  in  the 
revolution.  This  fleet  was  dispersed  by  a  storm.  One 
of  the  vessels  had  Wolfe  Tone,  the  leader  of  the  Irish 
Republican  party  on  board. 

After  looking  around  for  a  short  time  we  found  our- 
selves at  the  R.  R.  station,  and  soon  on  the  train  for  Cork, 
at  which  place  we  arrived  about  7  p.  m.,  drove  to  the 
Imperial  Hotel,  where  we  got  better  accommodations 
than  we  expected. 


AND   HOW   IT   DID    ME  95 

CORK. 

Cork  is  quite  a  town,  built  on  the  river  Lee.  It  first 
got  into  society  in  the  seventh  century,  when  the  mis- 
sionary bishop,  St.  Fin  Barre,  founded  a  monastery. 
Two  centurys  afterward  the  Danes  took  a  chance  at  it 
and  established  the  depot  for  future  red-headed  Irish. 
The  characteristics  of  the  Dane,  it  is  claimed,  still 
appear  in  the  Coruonions. 

Cork  has  a  few  good  streets,  of  which  St.  Patrick  is 
the  best.  A  statue  of  Father  Mathew,  the  great  tem- 
perance advocate,  occupies  a  prominent  place  on  this 
street.  Shandon  church  and  its  famous  bells  and  St. 
Fin  Barres  cathedral  constitute  some  ol  the  attractions 
of  Rebel  Cork.  It  has  no  greater  attraction  for  me 
than  being  close  to  that  celebrated  place  called  Blarney 
Castle. 

Blarney  Castle. 

It  took  us  about  an  hour  on  a  slow  train  to  reach  the 
station  of  Blarney,  and  a  walk  of  about  live  minutes  from 
there  to  the  Castle. 

A  youthful  looking  old  lady  was  in  charge  of  the 
register,  after  signing  which,  you  may  take  charge  of 
the  Castle  and  wander  around  to  your  hearts  content. 
This  lady  informed  me  that  she  had  charge  of  the  place 
for  the  last  37  years,  and  when  I  asked  her  if  her  mother 
used  to  bring  her  to  her  job  at  first  she  told  me  the 
Blarney  was  working  already. 

The  Castle  is  as  old  as  it  is  celebrated,  and  this  re- 
versed. It  belonged  to  the  MacCarthy  during  the  time 
of  good  Queen  Bess,  and  when  she  doubted  his  loyalty 
to  her  throne  he  would  make  such  extravagant  pro- 
fessions of  loyalty  that  she  couldn't  help  appearing  to 
believe  in  him,  though  she  doubted  his  sincerity.  On 
one  occasion,  when  he  overstepped  the  mark  and  being 
called  upon  to  explain,  the  report  he  sent  to  her  Majesty 
was  so  flattering  and  at  the  same  time  insincere  that 
she  exclaimed  that  it  was  all  " blarney."  This  was 
the  origin  of  the  word  in  its  present  meaning. 


1)0  HOW   I   DID   EUEOPE 

The  Blarney  Stone. 

The  Castle  got  into  its  present  condition  on  account 
of  a  heated  argument  between  its  then  owner  and  a 
gentle  man  by  the  name  of  Cromwell  in  1642,  since  which 
time  it  has  never  been  used  as  a  residence.  The  stone 
which  contains  all  the  blarney  is  about  120  feet  above  the 
walk  below.  It  is  the  lintel  of  the  top  window,  and  in 
order  to  kiss  the  under  side  of  the  stone  it  is  necessary 
first  to  lie  flat  on  your  back,  bend  backward,  and  clutch- 
ing hold  of  two  upright  bars  of  iron,  lower  the  upper  part 
of  your  body,  till  your  head  gets  below  the  stone.  ,After 
leaving  your  saliva  impression,  the  next  thing  is  to  get 
back  again,  which  is  as  difficult,  if  not  more  so,  than  the 
getting  down.  In  order  that  those  whose  lips  can 
find  no  better  occupation  may  touch  the  spot  that 
other  lips  have  so  lovingly  caressed,  a  hole  has  been  cut 
in  the  floor  about  six  feet  long  and  about  two  feet  from 
the  wall. 

Kissing  the  Blarney  Stone. 

I  looked  the  situation  over — a  number  of  others  were 
doing  likewise,  about  a  dozen  having  come  up  in  the 
same  train,  and  with  some  of  whom  we  got  in  conver- 
sation. Among  the  latter  was  a  young  lady,  more  or 
less,  whose  voting  years  were  equal  to  her  qualifying 
period  at  least  one  and  a  half  times.  She  was  on  the  roof, 
and  the  first  thing  I  knew  she  was  removing  her  wrap 
then  her  long  coat.  By  this  time  I  thought  I  would  ask  if 
it  was  to  be  Queensbury  or  Cupid  and  was  soon  satisfied 
when  she  said  "I'm  going  to  kiss  it."  As  I  saw  I 
couldn't  stop  her,  I  told  her  I  would  help  her,  and, 
calling  on  a  heavy-looking  gentleman  to  assist  me,  we 
got  her  placed  in  position  one,  lying  on  back.  Exercise 
No.  2  called  for  bending  back  and  grasping  the  iron  bars, 
which  she  did.  Now  came  the  most  delicate  and 
dangerous  part  of  the  performance — ours  delicate,  hers 
dangerous.  It  became  our  duty  as  well  as  our — no 
just  our  duty,  to  hold  the  boot  part  of  the  lady's  body, 
so  that  should  fright  or  weakness  overcome  her  we 
might  prevent  her  from  falling  the  distance  of  120  feet 
and  not  only  kissing  but  biting  the  dust.  Well  we  held 


AND   HOW   IT    DID    ME  97 

on.  and  she  lowered  her  body  till  she  got  her  head  well 
underneath,  and  she  kissed  that  blarney  stone,  and  such 
a  one  as  I  never  heard  before.  The  sound  was  a  cross 
between  the  busting  of  a  gas  baloon  and  the  slipping  of 
a  loose  belt  on  a  pulley. 

We  pulled  her  back  into  safety  with  particles  of  the 
blistered  stone  clinging  lovingly  to  her  tender  lips.  She 
stamped  her  feet  to  ascertain  if  she  was  in  the  altogether, 
and  not  finding  any  inequality  in  the  length  of  her 
walking  arrangements,  concluded  that  we  were  perfect 
gentlemen,  and  as  such  thanked  us  for  our  kind  assist- 
ance. 

I  told  her  it  was  indeed  a  pleasure,  etc., but  that  though 
she  has  kissed  the  blarney  stone  and  we  had  heard  her 
do  it,  yet  the  people  in  far  off  Australia  might  be 
sceptical,  as  there  would  be  no  evidence  other  than  her 
lips  that  the  act  was  performed.  I  told  her  after  she 
had  regained  her  breath  at  the  fright  of  such  a  possi- 
bility, that  I  would  write  out  a  certificate  to  the  effect 
that  it  was  so.  She  was  delighted,  and  we  all  returned 
to  the  ground  floor.  I  asked  the  thirty-seven-years-in- 
charge  lady  for  a  piece  of  paper.  She  didn't  have  a 
bit,  but  when  I  explained  what  I  wanted  it  for  she  tore 
the  back  page  out  of  the  register.  I  wrote  it  out  and 
all  present,  asistants  and  spectators  alike,  signed  it. 

The  girl  was  so  happy  over  the  possession  of  this 
precious  document  that  had  it  not  been  for  the  thought 
of  remaining  true  to  the  stone,  I  believe  she  would  have 
kissed  me  out  of  the  fullness  of  her  heart.  The  gentlman 
that  assisted  and  myself  stayed  around  for  some  little 
time  to  see  if  any  of  the  others  wanted  to  kiss  the  blarney 
stone,  but  no  one  offering  we  said  goodbye  to  the  kissing 
girl  at  Blarney  and  the  blarney-kissed  stone. 

We  rode  back  to  Cork  and  our  hotel,  and  had  a  hearty 
dinner.  I  must  have  eaten  something  like  a  welsh 
rarebit,  for  all  night  long  I  dreamt  that  I  was  the  blarney 
stone  and  that  all  the  young  maids  from  Australia  were 
trying  to  kiss  me. 

The  following  day  we  took  the  train  for  Dublin. 


98  HOW   I   DID   EUROPE 

DUBLIN, 

The  capital  of  Ireland  has  belonged  to  so  many  peoples 
that  it  is  hard  to  say  what  it  is — Irish,  English  or  Danish. 
It  has  been  known  as  the  town  of  the  hurdle-ford  and 
Duibh-linn  (the  black  pool). 

It  first  began  to  be  mentioned  in  the  daily  papers 
about  448,  when  the  king  of  Baile-atha-claith  (wherever 
that  was)  got  converted  to  the  Christian  faith  by  Saint 
Patrick  and  was  baptized  at  a  spring  on  the  south  side, 
now  St.  Patricks  well.  Things  went  along  nicely  for 
some  time  and  the  people  were  about  to  vote  on  starting 
Donnebrook  as  a  side  show  when  along  comes  the  Danes 
and  makes  Dublin  the  capital  of  their  settlement  in 
Leinster,  and  started  to  fortify  the  town  by  building 
defenses.  They  made  the  poor  Irish  act  as  hod-carriers, 
and  thus  began  that  ancient  and  honorable  calling,  or 
profession,  which  so  many  of  the  descendants  of  the 
old  dart  have  clung  to  ever  since,  each  one  hoping  that 
some  day  he  might  go  to  America  and  become  the 
walking  delegate  for  the  union. 

Brian  Boru  heard  of  the  Danes  and  put  out  from  his 
home  in  Munster,  took  Dublin  and  made  it  very  unpleas- 
ant for  the  red-headed  gentlemen. 

The  diplomatic  relations  between  the  Danes  and  the 
Irish  continued  strained  for  a  century  or  so,  each  trying 
to  reduce  the  voting  strength  of  the  other  by  any  means 
short  of  buying  drinks.  In  1171  along  comes  the 
Anglo-Normans  and  swats  the  Danes  and  sinks  their 
torpedo  destroyers  and  captures  their  submarine  boats 
and  Prince  Hasculfs  and  put  him  to  death. 

The  city  then  went  to  King  Henry  II  of  England, 
who  feasted  the  Irish  chiefs  on  corned  beef  and  cabbage, 
and  then  gave  the  town  to  his  friends  from  Bristol.  Con- 
tinuous scrapping  prevailed,  but  during  all  this  time  the 
better  element  were  busy  building  churches  and  brew- 
eries— two  great  civilizing  influences. 

Christ  church  was  built  in  1038  by  Sigteyg,  the 
Christian  King  of  the  Irish  Danes,  rebuilt  1170  by  the 
Normans.  It  collapsed  in  1562,  and  was  finally  put  in 
its  present  condition  by  Mr.  Roe,  the  whiskey  distiller. 

St.  Patricks  was  started  as  a  rival  to  Christ  Church  in 
1190  on  the  site  of  the  old  St.  Patricks.  This  church, 


AND   HOW   IT    DID    ME 


99 


like  the  other,  went  to  the  bad,  was  repaired  and  restored 
a  number  of  times. 

It  was  used  by  Cromwell  as  a  law  court,  by  James  II 
as  a  stable,  and  in  1860-5,  was  put  in  its  present 
condition  by  the  owner  of  a  brewery,  Sir  Benjamin  Guin- 
ness. Christ  Church  restored  by  whisky,  St.  Patrick  by 
porter.  Christ  Church  is  said  to  have  cost  more  than 
St.  Patricks. 

Dean  Swift  was  in  charge  of  St.  Patricks  and  he  was 
buried  there.  This  lends  an  added  interest  to  that 
church.  Both  churches  are  close  together.  One  is  the 
National  and  the  other  the  City  church. 

Dublin  at  present  is  crowding  Belfast  pretty  hard  for 
first  place  in  population.  Though  it  has  not  the  business 
in  manufacturies,  it  makes  up  in  other  ways. 

St.  Stephens,  Green  and  Phoenix  Park,  especially  the 
latter,  are  places  where  pure  air  and  a  good  walk,  or 
drive  can  be  enjoyed.  We  drove  through  the  park  and 
saw  the  spot  where  Lord  Cavendish  and  Mr.  Burke  were 
murdered  in  1882.  We  drove  past  the  several  statues 
erected  to  the  memory  of  people  who  are  supposed  to 
have  aided  or  injured  Ireland;  visited  some  of  the  places 
of  note,  namely  the  National  Museum  and  Library,  Bank 
of  Ireland,  Trinity  College,  the  Castle,  the  Four  Courts 
and  the  Worlds'  Fair. 

The  National  Museum  has  many  interesting  things  of 
Ireland:  its  old  bells  and  crosses,  curiously  engraved, 
old  stones  and  many  fine  samples  of  Irish  lace. 

The  Bank  of  Ireland  is  noted  because  of  its  history  as 
the  meeting  place  of  the  House  of  Parliment  in  College 
Green. 

It  seems  in  the  17th  century  it  was  known  as 
Chichester  House,  and  after  the  Restoration  was  pur- 
chased for  the  Parliment,  and  was  built,  or  rebuilt,  in 
1729-39.  The  Union  in  1801  put  it  out  of  commissioin,  and 
it  was  purchased  by  the  Bank  of  Ireland  for  40,000 
pounds.  It  was  changed  around  to  suit  the  banking 
business,  but  the  House  of  Lords  remains  as  it  was — the 
same  chairs  and  tables,  in  an  oblong  room.  The  walls 
of  either  side  are  covered  with  tapestry — on  one  side 
The  Battle  of  the  Bayne  and  on  the  other  the  Siege  of 
Londonderry. 

Graf  ton,   College   Green,   Dame  and   Sackville   streets. 


100  HOW   I   DID   EUROPE 

are  good,  and  the  stores  on  Grafton  street  are  a  fair 
comparison  with  the  best  of  most  large  cities  in  the 
British  Isles. 

The  Worlds'  Fair  is  short  drive  out  past  St.  Stephens, 
Green.  We  went  there  in  the  afternoon,  had  dinner  on 
the  grounds  and  spent  a  pleasant  evening  looking  over  a 
very  creditable  exhibition  of  the  products  of  Ireland  and 
a  fine  display  from  Canada. 

The  show  itself  was  not  very  large,  but  it  filled  the  bill, 
and  whatever  was  lacking  in  quantity  was  certainly 
made  up  for  in  Irish  enthusiasm,  from  the  baby  in  the 
incubator  to  an  Irish  wake.  All  the  phases  of  life  were 
depicted,  and  through  it  all  we  failed  to  find  any  evidence 
of  "The  most  distressful  country." 

Dublin  is  a  fine  city,  and  its  people  are  said  to  speak 
the  English  in  its  purity,  and  I  think  they  do,  and  with  a 
delightful  Dublin  accent,  but  they  still  cling  to  that 
outlandish  custom  of  printing  their  menus  in  a  language 
that  neither  themselves  nor  the  average  diner  can  under- 
stand. At  the  Shellbourne  Hotel  the  menus  are  printed 
in  alleged  French.  When  I  picked  it  up  the  first 
morning  to  order  my  breakfast  I  was  surprised,  and  told 
the  German  waiter  who  was  to  take  my  order  that  I 
could  not  speak  Irish.  Veil  dot  vos  not  Irish,  dot  vas 
French.  I  told  him  it  was  just  as  bad,  and  to  get  some 
one  who  could  take  the  order  in  English.  I  wanted 
oatmeal,  either  as  porridge,  mush  or  stirabout — that 
is  the  English,  American  and  Irish  way  of  calling  it. 
Why  won't  some  hotel  manager  with  the  bump  of 
common  sense  developed  to  a  common  size  print 
his  bill  of  fare  in  the  language  of  the  country. his  hotel 
is  in,  instead  of  making  asses  of  ninety-eight  per  cent 

of  his  patrons  for  the  benefit  of  the 1  was  going  to 

say  two,  but  I  was  then  including  the  manager,  but  on 
second  thought  the  manager  does  not  as  a  rule  know 
what  his  bill  of  fare  means  himself. 

Dublin  would  require  a  longer  stay  than  we  could  give 
to  learn  to  order  our  meals  and  take  in  all  that  is  worth 
seeing,  but  we  saw  what  we  could,  also  what  we  ate,  and 
after  vision  and  appetite  had  been  satisfied,  took  the 
train  for  Belfast,  where  we  arrived  about  10  P.  M.,  had 
supper  in  English  and  retired. 

Spent  the  following  two    days  visiting    and    buying 


AND   HOW   IT   DID    ME  101 

things  impossible  as  presents  or  souvenirs,  with  the 
exception  of  passenger  tickets  to  Glasgow,  for  which 
place  we  sailed  the  following  evening,  after  saying  good- 
bye to  quite  a  number  of  new-made  friends  and  one  or 
two  of  the  very  long  ago. 

GLASGOW 

Glasgow,  though  a  modern  city  in  every  sense  of  the 
word,  would  not  have  one  "think"  it  had  not  a  past.  It 
has  a  saint,  its  Cathedral,  its  royal  visitors,  its  war  times 
and  its  peace.  To  show  that  Glasgow  is  no  upstart,  it 
points  to  the  fact  that  in  the  3rd  century  St.  Ninian  es- 
tablished himself  in  a  cell  on  the  banks  of  the  Molen- 
dinar,  at  Glasgow.  How  long  he  remained  is  not  told,  but 
after  his  departure  it  adds  that  the  place  was  left  to 
heathendom,  and  did  not  know  much  about  anything 
until  the  patron  saint,  Kentigren,  familiarly  known  as 
"Mungo,"  took  a  chance,  in  the  sixth  century.  He  con- 
verted everything  in  sight,  but  •  that  was  not  saying 
much.  The  people  around  became  so  good  that  nothing 
was  heard  of  them  from  then  till  the  12th  century,  and 
even  then  Glasgow  would  not  have  known  it  was  on  the 
map  had  not  a  new  Bishop  been  sent  around  to  stir  things 
up  on  the  Clyde.  His  name  was  loceline,  and  he  stood 
so  well  higher  up,  that  William  The  Lion  made  them  a 
burgh,  with  a  weekly  market. 

This  happened  in  1176,  and  later  they  were  permitted 
to  loaf  for  two  weeks  annually,  from  the  Thursday  of  the 
second  week  in  July.  This  is  known  as  the  Glasgow  fair. 

The  city  cannot  remember  who  its  Godparents  were 
who  gave  it  that  name,  but  looks  back  to  i>h&  4i?ne,  of 
Mungo,  when  it  was  called  Cathures,  but  doefe  -nofc  kn'o'w 
why.  The  wise  ones  say  it  is  of  Celtic  origin;  knd  j>robaM^.  :«.  ;. 
means  the  "grey  smith/'  but  they  do  not'- care'?  teo  Ub'n'g •'.'',:'• 
as  you  let  Glasgow  flourish,  which  is  the  motto  of  the  city. 
But  when  some  one  called  them  down  because  it  was 
selfish,  they  added  "by  the  preaching  of  thy  word." 

In  order  to  keep  up  an  air  of  respectability  it  points 
to  the  fact  that  it  had  some  rough-house  in  early  days, 
William  Wallace  taking  a  fall  out  of  some  English  right 
in  the  streets  in  1300,  and  in  1697  Prince  Charlie  passed 
through  on  his  way  home  from  a  disagreement  with  Eng- 


102  HOW    I    DID    EUEOPE 

land.     He  reviewed  his  troops  in  Glasgow  Green,  and 
told  them  there  was  nothing  doing. 

Its  first  real  idea  of  becoming  anything  much  occurred 
to  it  after  the  discovery  of  America  and  the  river  Clyde. 
Tobacco  and  sugar  became  their  long  suite,  and  when 
the  War  of  Independence  broke  out  Glasgow  controlled 
half  the  tobacco  trade  of  the  kingdom.  The  people 
smoked  up  and  got  a  move  on;  found  out  they  could 
build  ships  and  swelled  up  to  such  an  extent  that  at  the 
present  time,  with  a  population  of  1,000,000,  they  are  in- 
viting delegations  from  other  countries  to  show  them 
how  to  govern  a  city  and  not  have  graft  scandals  come 
to  light. 

The  city  is  commercial,  first,  last  and  all  the  time. 
Some  little  sentiment  is  to  be  found  here  and  there,  but 
it  is  not  scattered  broadcast. 

The  Cathedral  is  the  relic  of  olden  times,  and  is  dedi- 
cated to  St.  Kentigren.  The  first  part  of  it  was  built 
in  560,  and  was  considerably  out  of  date  when  King 
David  came  to  the  throne  in  1124,  and  appointed  John 
Achaius  Bishop  of  Glasgow,  and  endowed  and  dedicated 
the  Cathedral  in  1136,  which  was  built  on  the  original 
site. 

The  present  church  is  old,  but  nothing  of  the  1136 
one  is  left  except  the  lot  and  a  little  of  the  foundation. 
The  architecture  is  early  English,  and  compares  favor- 
ably with  many  other  churches  in  other  towns,  where 
they  have  more  time  for  prayers. 

The  city  itself  is  not  especially  beautiful,  but  has  good 
substantial  buildings,  particularly  of  municipal  character. 
G^Q^;gH';Sc[i|are,  the  center  of  the  city,  contains  monu- 
ments L'*6f  "-public  characters,  and  one  side  is  taken  up 
b^  Hie  "City  -Chambers,"  a  building  that  Glasgow  may 
well  be-prottci  of.  The  general  postoffice,  the  Bank  of 
Scotland  and  other  notable  buildings  are  around  this 
square. 

The  principal  shopping  streets  are  Sauchuhall,  Argyle, 
Jamica,  Trongate  and  Buchannan  streets. 

The  river  Clyde,  the  great  ship-building  waterway,  is 
navigable  for  ocean  vessels  as  far  as  Jamica-street  bridge, 
which  might  be  called  the  business  center  of  Glasgow. 


AND    HOW   IT    DID   ME  103 

It  is  all  business,  and  a  person  has  no  business  there  un- 
less he  goes  on  business. 

A  stay  of  three  days  satisfied  us.  It  was  instructive, 
but  not  exhilirating. 

EDINBURGH. 

A  ride  of  an  hour  and  five  minutes  from  Glasgow  land- 
ed us  at  the  North  British  station  in  Edinburgh,  in  time 
for  lunch  at  the  railway  hotel,  "The  North  British." 
The  train  arrives  about  50  feet  below  Princess  street. 
We  were  shown  to  the  lift  and  landed  on  the  office  floor, 
and  assigned  to  a  room.  Had  lunch  soon  after,  and  then 
ordered  a  carriage  and  started  out  to  see  the  town. 

Edinburgh,  from  every  point  of  view  is  interesting.  I 
was  interested  before  I  saw  it,  and  since  seeing  it  my  in- 
terest has  increased  to  admiration. 

It  was  first  talked  about  in  617,  when  Edwin,  King  of 
Northumbria,  established  a  fortress  on  the  Castle  Rock. 
Buildings  began  to  spring  up  at  the  base  of  the  rock,  and 
we  find  Edwin  Burgh.  It  was  a  small  change  from  Ed- 
win Burgh  to  Edinburgh,  and  in  those  days  everybody 
wanted  the  change. 

The  history  of  the  Castle  and  the  town  read  so  much 
alike  that  with  few  exceptions  they  may  be  considered 
one. 

England  and  Scotland  had  some  very  heated  argu- 
ments over  this  castle  before  and  after  it  became  the 
capital  of  Scotland,  which  took  place  in  1437,  Perth 
having  heretofore  been  the  brain  center  of  national 
activity. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  the  cause  of  the  hard  feel- 
ing that  existed  between  London  and  Edingurgh,  nor 
the  trouble  that  ensued  by  people  taking  sides,  further 
than  to  say  that  Edingurgh  was  involuntarily  made  the 
host  of  the  English  in  1544,  and  again  in  1650,  when 
Cromwell,  knowing  that  he  was  not  popular,  insisted  on 
calling,  and  sending  a  lot  of  his  followers  as  boarders 
to  the  castle,  dead-heading  the  whole  bunch. 

This  sort  of  business  became  tiresome,  and  London 
and  Edinburgh  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  would  be 
just  as  well  to  get  together,  and  instead  of  fussing  around 
about  the  color  of  one  fellows  tartan,  or  the  style  of  the 


104  HOW   I   DID   EUKOPE 

other  fellows'  silk  hat,  or  knee  breeches,  see  to  it  that  no 
one  should  butt  in  against  the  other,  even  if  they  could 
not  always  think  each  other  as  good  as  he  ought  to  be. 

This  gave  Edingurgh  a  chance  to  sit  down  quietly  in 
the  winter  evenings,  and  tell  about  Mary  Queen  of  Scotts, 
John  Knox,  Sir  Walter  Scott  and  other  people,  and  some 
of  the  houses  made  famous  by  them  and  their  history. 

As  I  am  on  the  subject  of  Mary  and  others,  I  may  as 
well  tell  you  what  I  learned  of  them  during  my  visit  to 
the  scene;  but  as  Mary  and  some  of  the  Scottish  chara- 
cters will  appear  in  the  Castle,  either  as  rulers  or  prison- 
ers, I  might  as  well  tell  all  I  know  about  it  in  a  general 
way. 

The  Castle,  towering  over  the  finest  city  in  the 
British  Empire,  (this  is  not  original,  I  read  it  in  Edin- 
burgh), is  shrouded  in  oblivion,  but  it  is  known  that 
prior  to  617  the  Picts  had  a  place  on  the  hill  in  which 
the  daughters  of  the  Kings  and  nobles  were  kept  so  that 
the  Scots  could  not  make  eyes  at  them.  This  was  what 
caused  Edwin  to  take  a  chance  at  it.  Then  in  687  the 
Picts  took  it  back  again,  and,  on  Hog-ma-nay  night,  they 
took  account  of  their  possessions  and  found  as  follows: 

The  grounds  and  the  Castle  occupy  seven  acres  on  top, 
and  was  fronted  by  an  esplanade  350  feet  long  and  300 
feet  wide,  and  443  feet  above  sea-level;  a  few  rooms,  and 
very  little  in  the  larder,  an  empty  whisky  bottle  with- 
out the  label  (but  it  is  supposed  to  have  been  one  of 
Edinburgh's  best  Scotch  annihilators).  Search  in  the  base- 
ment disclosed  a  full  case  of  the  same  brand,  and  noth- 
ing further  is  said  about  the  history  of  the  Castle  for  a 
long  time. 

Malcolmn  III  made  it  his  residence  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  llth  century,  and  Margaret,  his  wife,  had  built  a 
chapel  on  the  heights.  It  still  remains,  and  has  been 
restored.  It  is  on  the  site  where  the  Mons  Meg  battery 
stands,  and  is  said  to  be  the  smallest  chapel  in  Scotland. 

Things  ran  along  indifferently  until  that  hapless 
Queen  Mary  came  along.  She  was  born  on  the  8th  of 
December,  1542,  at  Linlithgow  Palace.  James,  her 
father,  was  dying  at  Falkland  Palace  at  the  same  time, 
and  when  he  was  informed  of  her  birth,  he  exclaimed: 
"The  crown  came  with  a  lass  and  will  go  with  a  lass." 

Henry  VIII  wanted  her  for  his  son,  so  that  the  coun- 


AND   HOW   IT   DID    ME  105 

tries  should  be  united,  but  some  church  people  kicked, 
and  she  was  affianced  to  the  Dauphin  of  France,  and  at 
the  age  of  about  six  years  she  was  sent  over  to  be  edu- 
cated as  a  future  queen  of  France  should  be. 

She  was  married  in  Paris  on  the  24th  of  April,  1558, 
at  the  Cathedral  Notre  Dame. 

Elizabeth  became  queen  of  England  about  this  time, 
and  the  King  of  France,  dying,  raised  Mary,  with  her 
husband,  as  rulers  of  that  country.  Then  Mary's  mother 
died  in  Scotland,  and  Mary  became  queen  there,  and  her 
trouble  began.  She  was  up  against  John  Knox  and  the 
reformers,  Elizabeth  and  others.  She  had  a  few  hus- 
bands, some  friends  and  many  enemies.  She  will  never 
be  canonized  as  a  saint,  but  she  came  within  one  of  be- 
ing a  martyr. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  was  born  in  Edinburg,  Aug,  15,  1771. 
His  career  is  so  well  known  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  go  in- 
to details.  His  unfortunate  venture  in  business,  and  the 
failure  of  his  associates,  his  great  work  to  clear  off  the 
debt,  his  association  with  people  and  places  around 
Cannongate,  his  whole  life,  and  final  end,  show  the  grand 
character  of  the  man.  Edinburgh  has  erected  on  Princess 
street  a  monument  to  his  memory  that  is  worthy  of  both 
the  city  and  the  man. 

John  Knox,  the  great  reformer  of  Scotland,  was  born 
at  Haddington,  in  the  country  town  of  East  Lothian,  in 
1505.  He  was  educated  later  in  the  University  at  Glas- 
gow. He  had  all  sorts  of  ups  and  downs,  did  John,  but 
he  was  a  good  stayer,  and  when  the  reformation  came 
around,  he  took  two  tickets  and  attended  every  per- 
formance. 

He  got  into  all  sorts  of  mix-ups  with  Queen  Mary 
about  which  way  her  little  lambs  should  go.  His  house 
on  High  street,  is  visited  by  many,  on  account  of  his  mem- 
ory, and  the  persons  that  in  his  life  time  visited  him 
there,  either  as  friend  or  foe. 

He  died  in  1572,  and  from  what  I  learned,  his  neighbors 
all  seem  satisfied  about  both  his  birth  and  his  death. 

Edinburgh  has  other  things  outside  the  Castle,  Mary, 
Knox  and  Scott,  that  are  worth  spending  a  few  minutes 
over.  For  instance,  we  were  pointed  out  the  house  where 
Darwin  roomed  when  he  was  monkeying  with  the  ques- 
tion of  the  descent  of  man.  Where  Burns  slept  (if  he 


106  HOW    I    DID    EUEOPE 

ever  did)  when  in  Edinburgh;  his  Masonic  lodge  room, 
which  I  visited — the  place  where  he  and  Scott  met. 

Leaving  individuals,  we  were  shown  Holyrood  Castle, 
the  Westminister  of  Scotland,  in  one  sense,  the  closes 
in  Canongate,  the  museum,  and  many  other  places  and 
things,  but  it  would  take  too  long  to  tell  of  them,  and 
they  can  be  read  about. 

We  took  the  train  and  went  as  far  as  the  Forth  Bridge, 
a  wonderful  piece  of  engineering.  It  is  the  highest 
bridge  in  the  world,  being  450  feet  from  its  base  to  the 
highest  point.  It  is  one  and  one-fifth  miles  long  and  is 
cantilever  in  construction;  50,000  tons  of  steel  were  used 
in  building  it,  and  it  required  8,000,000  rivets  to  hold 
the  steel  in  place.  Seven  years  were  required  in  its  build- 
ing, at  a  cost  of  $17,500,000. 

Now  that  we  are  through  with  monuments  and  things, 
a  few  words  about  the  place  itself. 

I  consider  Princess  street  one  of  the  best  to  be  found 
anywhere  I  have  visited.  The  hotels  and  stores  are  ex- 
cellent; the  residence  district  all  that  could  be  expected. 
I  have  seen  more  than  I  expected,  and  would  like  to 
write  something  of  what  I  have  heard,  but  I  have  our 
tickets  for  New  York  in  my  pocket,  and  our  things  are 
in  Wigan,  so  we  must  hurry  away  from  a  trip  that  is 
half  finished,  but  carrying  away  with  us  pleasant  mem- 
ories of  "Auld  Reekie,"  and  a  lingering  hope  that  this 
will  not  be  the  last  visit. 

WIGAN. 

Wigan,  the  jumping-off  place  of  England,  I  might  call 
it,  although  Liverpool  is  actually  it.  The  in-and-out  town 
in  Lancashire,  where  we  first  put  our  slippers  under  the 
bed,  as  a  home,  and  from  where  we  motored  to  Liverpool 
on  the  2nd  of  November,  after  scraping  the  mud  from  our 
feet  and  wiping  a  mixture  of  coal  dust  and  a  Wigan  driz- 
zle from  our  faces. 

This  would  not  seem  good  for  Wigan,  and  would  lead 
one  to  think  that  as  a  town  it  was  only  a  necessity,  so  far 
as  we  were  concerned;  but  that  would  be  wrong,  for 
Wigan,  its  coal  dust  and  soot,  its  dialect  and  clogs  not- 


AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  107 

withstanding,  has  wiggled  itself  into  a  very  warm  spot  in 
our  hearts. 

It  is  a  town  hardly  worth  speaking  about,  or  a  very 
important  place,  just  as  you  see  it  or  know  it.  To  see 
it,  you  could  forget  it  in  a  minute,  but  to  know  it  and  its 
people,  then  you  would  remember  it  as  a  community  of 
individuals  who  desire  to  live  and  let  live. 

This  statement  is  hardly  correct.  Their  desire  to  live 
is  all  right,  but  the  let  live  part  of  it  must  be  qualified. 
Had  they  let  me  live,  from  their  point  of  view,  I  would 
have  been  dead  in  a  month,  with  eating  between  drinks, 
and  drinking  between  meals. 

It  gets  its  first  notice  in  the  morning  papers  about 
the  Roman  period.  I  find  all  towns  in  England  are  dug 
up  by  the  Romans,  and  start  making  history  for  them- 
selves immediately  after.  Wigan  needed  some  digging 
up  then,  but  not  now.  It  is  the  most  dug  up  place  in  the 
world.  The  town  is  built  over  old  worked-out  coal  mines, 
and  the  settlement  of  the  earth  causes  the  houses  to  act 
like  the  English  people — crack  but  not  bend. 

But  the  town  really  deserves  better  at  my  hands  and 
I  must  not  abuse  it. 

Its  history  is  about  as  follows:  Its  origin  is  Saxon; 
its  name  means  a  fight,  or  rather  fights;  it  was  taking 
milk  diet  in  the  Roman  period;  cutting  its  eye  teeth  un- 
der the  supervision  of  King  Arthur;  got  in  on  the  right 
side  after  the  Norman  con  inest.  Chartered  by  Henry 
III,  and  told  to  continue  doing  business  by  Edward  II, 
Henry  VI  and  Charles  II. 

It  has  its  local  history,  and  who  can  blame  it  for  telling 
that  a  valiant  Knight  went  to  the  Crusades  from  Wigan. 
His  name  was  Sir  William  Bradshaighe.  He  left  behind  a 
weeping  family.  He  was  gone  for  ten  years.  In  the 
meantime  a  fellow  from  St.  Helens,  or  Wales,  or  some 
other  out-laying  burgh,  came  home  and,  told  the  good 
lady  that  it  was  23  for  the  old  man;  that  the  Saracens 
didn't  do  a  thing  to  him.  He  kept  calling  afternoons 
and  evenings,  and  finally  married  Lady  Mab. 

An  Enoch  Arden  scene  took  place  one  day  later,  but 
the  traitor  who  had  married  the  lady  fled,  but  was  pur- 
sued, and  the  funeral  of  the  butter-in  was  held  a  few 
days  after  at  Newton  Park.  A  cross  in  Wigan  is  still  to 
be  seen,  to  which,  as  a  self-inflicted  penalty  for  marrying 


108  HOW   I   DID   EUROPE 

the  Welcher,  the  lady  walked  barefoot  from  her  home 
once  a  week,  and  the  place  is  known  as  Mab's  Cross. 

Wigan  at  present  has.  a  population  of  close  to  100,000, 
Coal  mines,  iron  and  cotton  are  its.  chief  industries.  It 
has  no  buildings  of  note,  except  the  church,  which  some 
swear  by,  and  some  at ;  and  a  main  street,  on  which  two 
railway  stations  are  located.  From  this  street  branch 
two  others,  one  leading  to  the  football  grounds  and  the 
other  to  the  Workhouse.  Ours  was  the  Workhouse,  and 
our  abiding  place,  the  master  and  matron  being  our 
friends  since  the  days  of  our  mud-pie,  marble  and  top 
period. 

The  Conservative  Club,  composed  of  the  most  liberal 
fellows,  made  it  pleasant  for  me  during  my  in-and-out 
periods,  and  the  families  of  some  of  the  members  (excel- 
lent people,  strange  to  say)  made  the  week  of  our  de- 
parture one  to  be  remembered. 

We  left  smoky,  sooty,  dirty,  dreary  Wigan,  with  its 
good-natured,  whole-souled  people  behind,  on  the  2nd  of 
November.  When  the  gates  of  the  Workhouse  shut  us 
out,  and  accompanied  by  the  master  and  matron,  motored 
through  the  adjoining  burghs  to  Liverpool  and  the 
steamer  Lusitania. 

LIVERPOOL  AND  ON  BOARD. 

After  a  good  run  through  towns  and  villages  we  ar- 
rived in  Liverpool.  We  had,  by  an  early  train,  sent  our 
things,  and  made  direct  for  the  boat,  and  found  every- 
thing that  we  had  marked  i( wanted"  in  our  cabin.  We 
went  ashore  again  and  had  a  look  around. 

Liverpool  is  the  second  city  and  the  principal  sea- 
port in  England,  with  a  population  of  about  700,000.  I 
had  looked  it  over  before  and  thought  it  would  do,  but 
when  I  boarded  the  steamer  and  took  a  general  look 
through  her,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  Liverpool  is 
but  a  small  place,  indeed,  and  is  mentioned  only  in  con- 
nection with  the  Cunard  Steamship  Company  as  a  coal- 
ing station  and  point  of  departure  for  the  queen  of  the 
waters,  the  Lusitania. 

The  crowded  wharfs,  the  bustle  of  the  longshoresmen, 
the  rush  of  the  passengers'  baggage  in  the  hold  and 
cabins,  a  long  blast  of  the  whistle,  the  all  ashore  order, 


AND   HOW   IT   DID    ME  109 

the  laughing,  crying  and  hysterical  good-byes  and  em- 
braces, a  few  short  orders,  the  gang  plank  down,  the 
ropes  cast  off,  another  toot  or  so,  and  we  were  clear  of 
the  wharf,  and  amid  waving  of  handkerchiefs,  umbrellas, 
flags  and  hats,  started  to  break  the  world *s  record  on 
the  greatest  steamship  that  ever  floated. 

THE  LUSITANIA. 

The  Lusitania  was  built  on  the  Clyde.  She  is  790  feet 
long,  88  feet  broad  and  60  feet  deep;  with  a  displacement 
of  43.000  tons;  speed  25  knots,  and  can  carry  3150  per- 
sons. 

The  state  rooms  are  10^2  feet  high,  and  there  are  5000 
electric  lamps  and  1200  windows;  five  decks  for  passen- 
gers, and  two  elevators  in  the  first  salon.  There  are  two 
dining  rooms  ,  one  on  the  upper  and  one  on  the  salon 
deck;  the  upper  and  lower  are  connected  by  a  large  cen- 
tral light-well.  The  upper  has  small  tables,  and  the  lower 
is  set  with  short  lengths  on  the  sides  and  small  round 
ones  in  the  center. 

On  the  salon  promenade  deck  is  a  writing  room  and 
library  forward;  then  the  main  stair  case  and  elevators. 

This  is  also  a  general  lounging  place.  A  passage  on 
either  side  leads  to  the  salon,  lounging  and  music  rooms. 
Through  another  passage  one  on  either  side  to  the  salon 
smoking  room,  and  from  that  still  further  aft  to  the 
veranda  cafe  or  palm  garden,  open  at  the  end  and  pre- 
senting a  full  view  of  the  ocean  without  exposure  to  the 
weather.  All  these  rooms  are  fitted  up  with  fine  lounges 
and  chairs  of  the  most  comfortable  character.  The  salon 
promenade  deck  has  an  uncovered  promenade  equal  to 
400  yards  to  the  lap ;  the  one  below  this,  or  the  promenade 
deck,  has  the  same  distance  around,  but  is  largely  oc- 
cupied with  ,the  personal  chairs  of  the  passengers — 
something  not  allowed  above. 

Taking  the  ship  right  through,  every  accommodation 
of  a  modern  city  and  every  luxury  of  a  first  class  hotel 
can  be  found  aboard  the  Lusitania.  Even  those  who 
may  be  used  to  earthquake  countries  can  sit  in  the  smok- 
ing room  and  enjoy  all  the  comforts  of  home,  for  the 


110  HOW   I   DID    EUKOPE 

vibration  is  a  very  good  imitation  of  a  temblor  in  good 
working  order. 

The  official  log  says  we  left  Liverpool  at  7:24  p.  m., 
November  2nd,  and  I  take  it  for  granted  that  it  was  so. 
A  general  look  around  and  a  setting  of  things  here  and 
there  in  the  cabin,  and  the  story  of  the  first  night  on 
board  is  told. 

We  arrived  at  Queenstown  at  6:57  a.  m.,  by  the  log. 
The  bumb-boat  women  came  aboard,  with  laces  and  orna- 
ments of  bog  oak,  postal  cards  and  shillalahas.  We  also 
took  on  some  passengers,  the  mail  and  telegrams.  I  got 
one  letter  and  five  telegrams,  conveying  good  wishes  from 
our  friends  for  a  pleasant  voyage,  and  at  11:34  a.  m. 
passed  Daunt 's  rock  and  were  fairly  started  on  the  of- 
ficial trip. 

I  find  that,  including  the  crew,  we  are  2864  souls — 
I  think  that  is  the  correct  expression,  and  means  saved 
and  unsaved.  In  the  salon  there  are  442,  and  I  began  to 
take  a  general  observation  of  the  other  441  millionaires, 
multi  and  otherwise.  They  averaged  up  pretty  well  and 
manjr  of  them  looked  almost  human. 

I  had  heard  that  corporations  were  soulless  and  million- 
aires were  shy  on  hearts,  and  as  a  large  number  of  the 
passengers  were  representatives  of  one  or  both,  I  thought 
I  would  observe  them  closely,  and  am  satisfied  that  they 
are  largely  constituted  like  the  ordinary  person  who 
possesses  only  a  paltry  few  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
A  Sir  Somebody,  and  the  Lord  Knowswho,  both  passen- 
gers, walked  and  talked  like  other  people,  and  never 
intimated  once  that  the  rest  of  us  only  lived  by  their 
permission,  and  the  unyielding  propensity  of  the  ultra- 
wealthy  was  not  in  evidence,  for  when  we  ran  into  a 
storm  some  of  them  acted  just  like  a  very  poor  person 
would,  and  yielded  up  all  they  had,  and  so  I  have  come  to 
this  conclusion,  that  take  the  ordinary  millionaire  or  lo- 
cal celebrity  and  place  him  on  board  the  Lusitania,  or 
on  the  streets  of  a  large  home  or  foreign  city,  and  the 
greatness  of  his  importance  disappears,  not  only  in  the 
eyes  of  the  general  observer  but  in  his  own. 

The  general  arrangement  for  the  care  of  the  passengers 
is  excellent.  First  your  bath  in  the  morning,  your  fruit 
or  coffee,  or  both,  soon  after;  get  your  morning  paper 
and  after  reading  the  news  of  the  world,  sometimes  read- 


AND    HOW    IT   DID    ME  111 

ing  of  events  before  the  time  they  happened,  from  a  day 
and  hour  point  of  view. 

You  breakfast  about  nine,  or  later,  at  a  little  round 
table  at  which  from  4  to  7  can  sit,  according  to  arrange- 
ment. After  breakfast  you  walk,  read,  lounge,  smoke  or 
get  sick,  just  as  it  happens.  About  half  past  ten  or  eleven 
beef  tea  and  other  things  of  like  character  are  served. 
You  may  take  them,  reject  or  eject  them  at  will.  Lunch 
is  served  at  one.  More  walks,  etc.  Late  in  the  afternoon 
some  more  confidence  restorer  is  passed  around.  This 
keeps  you  from  starving  till  seven,  when  more  ballast  is 
taken  in  the  shape  of  soups  and  salads,  and,  should  the 
pangs  of  hunger  make  you  yearn  for  another  square 
meal,  you  can  be  accommodated  by  pushing  the  button 
in  your  cabin  and  the  steward  or  stewardess  will  pro- 
cure you  anything  you  crave,  from  Mrs.  Winslow's 
soothing  syrup  to  hard  boiled  eggs.  After  this  you  re- 
tire for  the  night  or  till  called  for,  depending  on  the 
weather. 

This  is  a  fair  sample  of  one  day  on  board,  but  it  can  be 
varied,  weather  permitting. 

A  lack  of  striking  individuality  in  this  aggregation  of 
wealth  and  social  activity  bars  the  possibility  of  selecting 
any  one  with  any  particular  characteristic,  and,  indeed, 
I  considered  it  an  evidence  of  good  level-headedness  on 
the  part  of  the  passengers  that  no  one  in  particular  be- 
haved in  such  a  manner  as  to  attract  attention  or  invite 
criticisms. 

The  grey  hounds  of  the  ocean,  as  these  boats  are  called, 
make  the  trip  in  such  short  time,  that  the  forming  of  ac- 
•  inaintances,  let  alone  friendships,  becomes  more  or  less 
the  exception  than  the  rule.  Then  the  large  number 
carried,  the  size  of  the  boat,  the  number  of  decks,  of 
lounging,  smoking,  reading  and  writing  rooms,  almost 
preclude  the  probability  of  meeting  each  other,  except 
by  arrangement,  and  it  is  only  when  an  occasion  like  the 
storm  we  ran  into  on  the  night  of  Wednesday,  which 
continued  until  late  Thursday  evening,  that  the  indi- 
vidual faces  seem  to  strike  you  more  distinctly.  They 
are  fewer,  and  the  storm  seems  to  draw  together  those 
who  have  not  been  drawn  apart. 

This  particular  storm  reached  its  height  in  the  after- 
noon of  Thursday,  and  it  was  all  that  could  be  desired. 


112  HOW   I   DID    EUROPE 

It  tested  the  Lusitania  and  the  passengers.  Quite  a  num- 
ber made  almost  as  good  a  showing  as  the  vessel.  We 
happened  to  be  among  the  lucky  ones.  On  the  main  deck 
toward  the  stern,  and,  where  the  division  between  the 
first  and  second  class  passengers  is  made,  the  end  is 
open,  like  the  end  of  an  observation  car,  only  on  a  much 
larger  scale.  This  is  the  palm  garden,  and  here  we  sat 
and  enjoyed  the  storm.  Knowing  the  safety  of  the  boat, 
and  our  dinner,  we  watched  the  waves  break  over  the 
ship,  or  toss  her  about  as  if  she  were  the  merest  life  boat. 
I  found  a  point  from  which  I  could  see  her  dip  into  the 
water  after  having  mounted  a  wave,  and  it  looked  as  if 
she  would  continue  on  her  downward  course;  then  a 
quivering  and  a  shivering  like  a  dog  shaking  himself 
after  coming  out  of  the  water,  and  up  she  would  come, 
until  you  would  almost  think  the  wind  would  blow  under 
her  keel. 

It  certainly  was  one  of  the  grandest  sights  I  ever  be- 
held. The  wind  and  waves  doing  their  level  best,  as  if 
to  show  this  queen  of  the  ocean  that  a  couple  of  the  gods 
were  still  doing  business  at  the  same  old  stand;  but  the 
gods  got  tired  and  the  queen  of  the  ocean  came  out  tri- 
umphant, but  not  without  some  scars  in  the  shape  of 
twisted  iron  and  broken  windows. 

We  arrived  alongside  the  wharf  at  New  York  in  the 
forenoon  of  Friday,  and  waited  on  board  for  a  short  time 
to  avoid  the  rush  and  the  waiting  for  baggage  examina- 
tion. 

Finally  we  concluded  to  go  ashore  and  get  a  carrige. 
I  took  my  wife  to  the  hotel,  and  went  back  to  attend  to 
the  custom  house  business.  On  landing,  we  were  pleased 
to  find  waiting  to  welcome  us  to  New  York,  one  of  our 
mess  mates  of  the  Princess  Irene,  in  the  person  of  the 
wife  of  my  "puzzle,"  who  has  long  since  ceased  to  be  so. 
We  drove  to  the  hotel.  I  left  the  ladies  to  talk  over  their 
travels,  our  passage,  the  breaking  of  the  record,  and  my- 
self. After  getting  the  porter  from  the  hotel  and  ar- 
ranging for  a  wagon,  I  drove  back  to  the  wharf,  found 
my  things  all  arranged  in  a  pile.  I  got  an  inspector  who 
happened  to  know  that  I  didn't  have  anything  dutiable, 
and,  while  doing  his  whole  duty,  did  not  make  an  un- 


.AND    HOW    IT    DID    ME  113 

necessary  "bull  in  a  china  shop"  of  our  effects. 

I  then  left  the  hotel  porter  in  charge  and  went  back  to 
the  hotel. 

When  I  arrived,  it  just  occurred  to  me  that  I  had  for- 
gotten to  note  the  change  in  my  temperature  when  I 
landed  and  saw  old  glory,  and  least  there  should  be  any 
doubt  about  it,  I  immediately  proceeded  to  the  bar,  told 
the  man  to  make  it  straight,  and  then,  on  second  thought, 
added  a  little  water ;  mixed  it  as  it  were  to  the  stars  and 
stripes  and  the  union  jack  of  old  England. 

Now  Friend  Dick: — 

I  intend  visiting  Washington,  Philadelphia,  Niagara, 
Buffalo  and  Chicago  for  a  day  or  so  at  each  place.  I  will 
not  send  you  any  more  writing,  but  will  telegraph  you 
when  to  expect  me. 

In  the  meantime,  if  a  place  is  convenient,  and  some  of 
the  boys  are  around,  just  take  one  with  your  glad-to-be- 
back-again  old  friend. 

JIM. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $I.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


OCT  27  1933 


JUN  16  1934 


Jft 

fe 


DD21-100m-7,'33 

-.;v: 


827292 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


, 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN  INITIAL  FINE"OF  25  CENTS 

OVERDUE. 


LD  21-100m-7,'33 


827292 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


